Why I don't like the concept of country

The concept of country is a by product of weakness of the mind.

 There are many things that divide humans; country, religion, skin color, geographical location, customs and traditions, facial features, language is some of the examples. Today I will write only about country.

At the beginning of civilization people were hunters, then they became hunters and gatherers then they became farmers. Once they became farmers people started making settlements and villages were born, this expanded and cities were born. People started trading their items and more such cities developed on those trading routes.

Now some people in villages and cities became rich and thus developed the sense of power. Others flocked to these rich people for support during hard times and these people started becoming local leaders. The hunger for power is such that it makes a man do many things. From being local leaders they became chieftains of the villages and started forming their small armies. The perks of being a ruler is to alluring. Now was the time to grab more resources so they started fighting with each other and slowly some of these chieftains increased their area of dominance and started become kings by forming small kingdoms. These people now did not directly indulge in trading but became facilitators in lieu of taxes and protection. This way bigger kingdoms formed and further downstream in our times became countries.

 For me these countries we see now are the outcome of hunger for power of few people. The identity of the country became a major focus of everyone and everyone came to be identified with a country. The leaders or Kings aspirations became the aspiration of the citizens. The word and feeling of patriotism was created and people were ready to die for it in the name of employment and love for the country. The leaders understood this and created an aura of honor and greatness around patriotism and martyrdom. The so called enemy of the king is also the enemy of the citizen.

A common thinking man like me thinks is all this necessary. Why can’t everyone live peacefully? Why does the common man get weighs down by the jingoism created in the name of country? I think 90% of the conflicts fought till now are just for the control of more resources and domination, though this may be cloaked in the disguise of any cause.

Now the question of governance comes. We need something to regulate the people and society at large. That is fine but in the name of governance some people in the hunger for power oversteps the basic line of humanity. If someone is attacking me then I have the right to protect myself and it is between the two of us. If one country is attacking the other then the other country has the right to protect it. But is there a requirement of attacking another person or another country. So many lives have been lost to fulfill the ego and lust for power of so few.

All people are not same; everyone has his own views and concepts and this differentiates the whole mankind. In this differentiation we fail to find a middle ground were all can co-exist peacefully.

Country is a man made concept. Our birth in different countries makes us different, but the underlying human nature stays the same. The common human emotions like love, joy, hate, fear, sadness, anger bring out the same reactions within us wherever we might be living. The emotions are same when our parents die, when we fall in love with the other gender, the relation between brother and sister- in whichever corner of the world we might be living.

When the basic human nature is the same everywhere then how can the concept of country divide us. The concept of country and everything attached to it is a perfect example that mind is double edged swords were both the edges are sharpened to harm others.

Is peace and co-existence such a difficult thing?