I Love The Smell Of Patriotism In The Morning
The thing about realising that you’re South African, is that you have to realise that the rest of the world exists, and have to understand it in a very meaningful way
As a kid growing up, the rest of the world was geography, and maybe some news. And so, although I was from South Africa, and I knew South Africa, I never fully appreciated being South African, simply because patriotism is a relative perception.
There’s a dirty word. Laboured as it is with images of gun toting mentalists running around the world killing everybody, “patriotism” has acquired a terrible tarnish. In the words of Bill Hicks “I fucking hate patriotism man. It’s a round world, the last time I checked.”
It was my first trip overseas, in August of 1995. We went to Poland, on a rowing tour, and it was just about the best introduction you could hope for to the rest of the world. Rowers from all over the world congregated for two weeks in the (as I remember it) small town of Poznan. Everybody was there with a common purpose (to beat everybody else), and this gave us a bridge across all the nationalities. Regardless, it also made everybody very conscious of where they were from.
Now I’m not a big believer in the “sudden flash” way of life. Stuff doesn’t hit you like lightning one day while you’re wandering around on Aliwal beach drinking Old Brown Sherry from a plastic packet. Stuff hits you slowly, many times over, and one day you wake up to a filthy hangover and the realisation that the stuff’s been there all along.
That said, If I had to identify the moment I first became proud of being a South African, it was on that tour. We were standing outside our residence, waiting to go to the course, and one of our guys who was still inside unfurled a massive South African flag from the window. We were one of the first teams to be competing under the New South African Flag, and I remember looking up at it and feeling immensely proud, and wanting to tell everybody how great our country is.
But I was very young, and such overt sentimentality came easily.
To say that I fully realised in that moment what it meant to be South African would be a blatant lie. I am still realising. These days, I live with a group of people from all parts of the Western world, in a small city in China. Small enough that Westerners are still freaks to be stared at. Understanding how different we are, and all of the good things and bad things that come from being South African – all of the big things like the colour of our skin (Small town Chinese people often believe I’ve become white because I stayed out of the sun), and the little things like having two ways of spelling sentence/ance – all of these understandings are making me realise day by day what it means to be South African. And it’s cool man. It’s fucking cool.
Anyway, that doesn’t matter. Patriotism is what I felt the first time I fully appreciated being South African, and I’ll admit that just once. Right, now I’m off to kill some people who don’t look like me.
You when I was told to write about what made me realise that I was South African, it took some time for me to write as there was not even a single thing in mind that was protruding, as I had so many things to talk about and yet I was still realising what makes me South African,so in that regard I understand when you saying you are still realising and fair enough you know you are South African and patriotic about it….I’m with you completely..thanks great story…
Great piece Zak! I’m glad I’m not the only one who didn’t experience a singular defining moment of feeling South African. Although, travelling and being removed from the familiar is one quick step to lay claim to your country – in a good way! (Unless you’re on the Tube home and a bunch of drunk SAfricans are swinging like chimps from the bars on the train causing chaos and you do every thing you can to not-make-eye-contact, let alone speak, for fear they’ll find out that you come from “home”.
Thanks guys. Wendy you’re absolutely right – the further you get from home, the more South African you feel, it seems. I’ve got limited experience with the Saffers swinging from the bars group, except for times when I’ve been one of them.
I did answer and maybe never pressed submit. I liked this Zak, as it was amusing plus the angel of learning you were a patriot, when competing in Poland makes a lot of sense.
I have to say – I feel particularly jealous – the only times I was able to wave the South African flag was while watching the last rugby world cup…at home!
To be able to do compete under the flag must have been an amazing experience!
Strange – I think the patriot in me is only ever awakened when there is sports concerned…
@Zak, it definitely is the case for a lot of us, having to see the world to realise where we are from – it’s a definite theme, although there are some good home grown stories
Diva, it’s great that sport creates that sense of patriotism. I believe that sport – clean(ish) and fair(ish) competition – is one of the finest ways for countries to create their own identities. Sport provides a common entity (enemy?) for a country to stand against, and potentially can unite across culture and social status. It provides a sense of patriotism, of achievement, even in those not directly involved. It is, perhaps most importantly, a medium that most countries can achieve in – even the poorest countries can have sportsmen in some field, that they can be proud of.
There is no more success to be had in war, or empire. Almost every war in the last 60 years has been a failure, for both sides.
Goering, at the Nuremburg trials, said “.. it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to a greater danger. It works the same in any country.”
We have a terrible disease in South Africa (which may well exist in other countries as well, I don’t know (Certainly it exists in China)), where politicians, seeing the opportunities provided, use sport as this platform.
But frankly, I’d rather they were using sport than using war.
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Excellent post. The first time I saw the new SA flag I was unimpressed (at the time I did not realize the effect a flag could have on a person and a nation).
I was in the UK during the 94 elections – and when the flag went up over SA House – I think i felt pride (patriotism) for the first time ever.
Thanks for the insight and for bringing an old memory to the surface.
Hey Zak it was excellent! and yes, sport does that.. and how wise was Madiba when he wore the rugby jersey at the Rugby World Cup in 1995 – when previously rugby had been the symbol of the oppresive regime and apartheid. Patriotism..that’s when I truly felt it.