It is fair to say that, while I was quite the opposite of patriotic as a teenager, I am very fond of Australia now. I do, occasionally, have an almost physical yearning to live in the UK, but realise that, even ignoring the logistical behemoth that would be making such a move, our day to day life is unlikely to be any happier there. Making the move to the country has been a truly excellent move for us and I am very happy to be Australian. I'm not sure that I am particularly
proud about it, I didn't have any control over being born here, and I am surprised by the American sort of patriotism lots of Aussies seem to display these days. I don't think it was like this when I was young.
The main point of Australia Day, for me, has always been the day off and I am particularly thankful for it this year. Working full time as well as managing a household of five is tiring and I am sleeping in and catching up on things at home. I'm sure I will feel less tired when I get used to my new job and settle into the routine of the school year. That's what I am telling myself, anyway.
Before my Dad despairs of my Australian spirit, be assured that there was backyard (well, driveway) cricket, swimming and we had lamb for dinner.
Whilst living in and being an Australian is not perfect, there is no ther place that I would rather be.
ReplyDeleteAlways picking on the Americans Amy.
ReplyDeleteThat sense of Nationalism really originates from Germany in the 16th Century. Luther's rise happened at the same time that the peasants started to see them as "German" rather than just "Christian" or a member of the Holy Roman Empire.
It's been around for longer than us, but it certainly is more commercial these days.
Oh dear, I didn't mean to pick on Americans or to annoy you enough to provoke a comment. Neither did I mean to say that patriotism or nationalism originates with Americans, how could it seeing as they are a relatively young nation, in the form it is in now? Calling the type of patriotism I see of late an 'American sort of patriotism' doesn't necessarily imply that it is negative. I merely meant to say that it was stronger than I had perceived it when I younger.
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