I love my country!

Patriotism has been used by the military forces to make people join them, especially during periods of war, when more naive souls are dragged into the battlefield.

During World War I Wilfred Owen was one the many people who have been trapped in the deceiving image of patriotism and who have joined the army; he offered his life for the glory and honor of his country and, of course, his own.

Foolishly, Owen decided to go on what seemed to be a romantic adventure, to die for one's country, a noble action that ended up being not as glorious as he expected, and instead of glory it only gave him physical and psychological scars. But the fact is that this adventure would reveal the distortion of the meaning of patriotism to Owen, and it would make him realize that the "stay-at-home-warriors" (politicians) were lying and giving a convenient meaning to patriotism  in order to keep the war going.

His idea of what patriotism meant was torn apart by the things he saw and experienced during the war; death, sadness, deception, suffering, loneliness, anguish, despair.

"My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est

Pro patria mori." 

-Wilfred Owen

In Chile, many people have fought and have given their lives for what they have conceived as patriotism, which in a way is not different than what Owen went through when his  misconception of patriotism led him to fight a war; the only difference is that for Owen it made him open his eyes and protest against the fact that they were being used, and for chilean people nothing has triggered yet the search for the true meaning of patriotism. Is it dying for your country? Is it in glorying the fallen heroes? For many chilean people, patriotism is just celebrating the victory of our football soccer national team, maybe wearing a red t-shirt, or simply enjoying the fact that we have one of the highest skyscrapers in South America. Vain, but true.

We need to figure out the true meaning of patriotism, the way Owen tried to while writing his poetry, and do the things that would really project our patriotism.