“Ever cried for your country?” is a brilliant opinion that questions our sense of patriotism in Nepal and teaches us what it means to be a patriot. You may start re-evaluating your sense of civic duty for Nepal instead of complaining about the situation in Nepal. Your call! –>This is a full (yet slightly edited for typos and grammar) text of the original article published some time ago in the Kathmandu Post.
By BAN WHI MIN (The writer is a 15 year-old student of Hankuk Academy of Foreign Studies, South Korea).
यही लेख नेपालीमा पनि यहाँ पढ्नुहोस्
Nepalese complain about the caste system and corrupt officers. They openly vent their anger against the government. But have they ever thought About Nepal’s real problems? I believe that they have not. I want to say that Nepal’s real problems are lack of patriotism among the people and lack of love for one another. This is the conclusion I have reached during my stay. This summer, I did voluntary work from July 5 to July 30 at FHI Ever Vision School, Matatirtha, Kathmandu.
Let me first tell you about my country, Korea. This might help you understand my point. Just after the Korean War, which claimed lives of more than 5 million Koreans, Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world. Without natural resources, Korea had no choice but to desperately struggle for its survival by all means. Under this gloomy situation, Koreans envied other Asian countries like Japan, Taiwan, and Nepal. Korean government officials were horribly corrupt. With the dual classes of Yangban (nobles) and Sangnom(peasants) , Korean society was sickening day by day. However, Koreans, having determination to become rich, overcame the unfair social structure and put the country onto the track of development. When the former president Park Jung Hee took over the government, there were few factories in Korea. Korea could not attract loans or expect foreign investments. Under these circumstances, President Park ‘exported’ miners and nurses to then West Germany. The salaries that they earned were used to building factories and promoting industrialization of Korea. In 1964, when President Park visited then West Germany, the miners and nurses asked the president when the Koreans would become rich. The president replied, crying with the miners and nurses, that someday the Koreans would become rich.
Many of Korean scientists and engineers, who could just enjoy comfortable lives in the United States, returned to Korea with only one thing in their mind: the determination to make Korea the most powerful and prosperous country in the world. They did their best even though their salaries were much less than what they would have received in other countries. The Koreans believed that they had the ability to change their desperate situation and that they must make the country better, not only for themselves but also for the future generations yet to come. My parents’ generation sacrificed themselves for their families and the country. They worked 14 hours a day, and risked their lives working under inhumane conditions. The mothers, who went to work in factories, fed their babies while operating machines in dangerous environments. They always tried to teach their children the true value of ‘hard work’. Finally, all these hard works and sacrifices made the prosperous Korea that you see now. Nepalese! Have you ever cried for your country? I heard that many of Nepali youth do not love their Nepal. I also heard that they want to leave Nepal because they don’t like caste system, or because they want to escape the severe poverty. However, they should be the first ones to voluntarily work for Nepal’s development, not the first ones to complain and speak against their country.
I have a dream that someday I would be able to free the souls from suffering from the underdeveloped countries, anachronistic customs and the desperate hunger. My belief has become stronger than ever after seeing the reality in Nepal.
A child with a fatal disease who doesn’t have enough money to buy a pill; a child living in what seems like a pre-historic dwelling and not having the opportunity to receive education; and a student who cannot succeed, no matter how hard he studies, just because of the class he comes from. A society, where wives not only take care of children but also work in the fields, while their husbands waste their time doing nothing; a society in which a five-year-old must labour in a brick factory to feed herself. Looking at the reality of Nepal, I despaired, yet this sense of despair strengthened my belief. I already know that many of the Nepalese are devout Hindus. However, nothing happens if you just pray to hundreds of thousands of gods while doing nothing. It is the action that you and Nepal need for the better future.
For Nepal and yourselves, you have to show your love to your neighbours and country just as you do to Gods. You know that your Gods will be pleased when you work for the development of your country and improvement of your lives. Therefore, please, love your neighbours and country. Teach your children to love their country. And love the working itself. Who do you think will cry for your Nepal? Who do you think will be able to respect the spirit of Himalayas and to keep the lonely flag representing it? You are the ones responsible for leading this beautiful country to a brighter future. This responsibility lies on you.
Thank you, Kamini Chand for sending me this amazing article.
Thank you for promoting Nepal and Nepali products abroad 🙂 . Unite we must to make Nepal prosperous in our life-time.
please watch this clip via your tube “magic of Nepal cover”
its true that patriotism is diminishing.. But its also true that we, Nepalese are always THE WINNERS when united. we have examples that was the result of out unity.. winning CNN hero for twice is not a joke.. its really pride for us…..And also Prashant Tamang, who became the winner.
These are the result of our unity..
omg, stop with the West ( Christians ) excuse now will you? i go to a catholic school here in the UK and they’re not in way looking for a way to force their religion on you. im not a christian, my parents are hindu and so traditionally speaking i am too ( but personally an atheist, bordering on agnostic). anyway, most christains are nice people and want to genuinely help people. When korea was at war/poor, the Christina missionaries went there to help people. and if their way of thinking, the belief of helping the less fortunate and so on appealed to the koreans, then it was their own choice to become a christian and adopt a new way of thinking which suited better to their situation. so step with the paranoid “oh, stupid westerners, trying to inflict their beliefs on other” attitude and help you country if you truly call yourself a neaplese. peace.
I very much agree with your comment on Nepalese education system. I came to the UK at the age of twelve, and struggled when it came to exams in the first year because when i revised, i only memorised the text, i did not pause and think since we had not been taught to think for ourselves back in Nepal. Now im seventeen and im gonna be studying Physics at University next year. I truly enjoy maths and physics, there is so much beauty in the patterns and sequences, its so simple and so strikingly beautiful it makes my heart swell with joy. Anyways, I hope to become a theoretical physicist and hope to develop the science/research faculty in Nepal and consequently the Nepalese education system. I really hope you go back to nepal and help–you seem like a very well educated person, so im sure you wont need to start form sratch.
oh, i also read on a nepalipatra–the uk nepalese patra—that there are four neaplese australian scientists who are excelling in their fields. i hope they get rewards and lots of fund so they can do more good work. and i hope they go back home and help develop nepal too. A bit random but i wanted to mention it.
yup, its the will that we lack.
totally agree.
korea is on earth. so is nepal. koreans are humans and so are nepalese. korean leaders are also humans and so are nepalese leaders. and its people like you with the negative attitude i dont like.
the reality is what this boy has said. so face it. in terms of leaders, i really think our goverment system should be changed.
I agree with you on this buddy. Its up to us youth now to make our country better. I will hopefully get a physics degree in four years time from now and go back to my motherland and help in any way i can. this letter has inspired me in a really profound way and im going to take action on that inspiration.
Thank you for liking my thoughts. Please stay in touch and lets work together to make our country peaceful and prosperous !
hi i am nepalese & i m very much pleased with your sayings and my future aim is to change the situation of the country as my ancestors like bhimsen thapa , araniko and many more did.
I feel that a foreigner, based on 25-day stay in Nepal, knows the problem of Nepal and us Nepali, better than most of Nepali themselves. There is no way we should criticize him, for positively commenting on the situation of Nepal. He just revealed a truth that perhaps few of us, will have hard time accepting. I was also one of those people who wanted to escape Nepal. But I only did not want to avoid the unsettling situation of Nepal at that time, I also could not find any college/university that I would like to pursue my further education at.
It’s been a while since I have been following the political situation of Nepal. In the meantime, I read the perception of our Nepali brothers and sisters, and I come to perhaps an immature conclusion that we are not educated properly. I feel proud that we have plenty of academically outstanding students who perform really well in colleges nationally and internationally, or who can easily outsmart students in foreign countries (that’s my experience while staying in US for past 6 years). But education that we received did not prepare us enough to seek out-of-the-box situations. We are ashamed to speak our mind out, and fearful. We seek personal development, and luxury. We let others try and fail and criticize them for their failure but we do not go ahead and put our effort in doing same thing although we have sense of executing same thing in the better way. There are just so many things. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to do what I think I should be doing either.
I am just confessing but not criticizing. My girlfriend was telling me that one of her friends went back to Nepal after staying in US for years. My ignorant mind replied instantly : “One needs guts to stay and survive in US”. She replied back: ” No one needs guts to go back to Nepal”. That struck my mind and I was speechless. I hope I can be brave enough to go back to Nepal one day and try to join the group of our highly motivated Nepali friends and work my way up from the scratch. I really appreciate what Ujwal Thapa has been doing in Nepal. We need more people like him.
Did u even read what the above article mentioned? Our country is in such a mess right now and ur talking abt people commenting on us? WOW With things happening in our country, every foreigner would be talking about our country. But thats not the point. U Sir, didn’t get the actual point of this article rather u are condemned in abhorring the writer.
great aeticle.
GREAT ARTIC LE .
very good article.. i totally believe it… patriotism, the will, the determination, the ability to sacrifice that’s what we are lacking… but time has come… a new generation of entrepreneurs like me.. will come to the stage and we will have some very good companies working to develop this country.. i love this country.. i have cried for this country.. and i will risk my career to try and do something for this country through entrepreneurship.. this country needs entrepreneurs.. this country needs people who can create jobs and make the country competitive… thanks for the article…
does any one have his twitter id of fb id 😀
this country is not korea. We are not koreans. We don’t have leaders like korean people had. Hence our problem remains unsolved .u00a0 whatsoever I did not like the way people comments on us.
thanks for your response !
*Politician: Badu00a0gamer to hold the post and earn as much as black money. And do brainwash to innocent uneducated people.n*Almostu00a0businessman: together with politician andu00a0corrupted officer tou00a0deceiveu00a0tax and customu00a0clearance.u00a0 Their main aim expand and resettle in abroad.n*Officers: allu00a0corruptedu00a0if not they can’t allow to work properly andu00a0transferu00a0to visit Nepal.n*Nepalese:u00a0u00a0Already divided for many confusing unimportant partitions, so that u00a0they can always argue and never have time to think right way.nu00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0Nepalese are patriotic if they paid well in abroad like UK, HK, India, Singapore….u00a0nu00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 No one had proper work, busy involvement for goodu00a0purposeu00a0and always waste time withu00a0arguingu00a0each other.nu00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0Let’s hope one day, no one help to politician for their personal advantage, and together hold hand by hand to open worku00a0opportunity to makeu00a0naturallyu00a0peace and u00a0developed.
Does anyone researched on what KOREA lost for its development?nwhat about the religious changes?? how many ofu00a0Koreansu00a0transformed tou00a0Christiansu00a0during this development time?nnDevelopment does not come easily… West (u00a0Christiansu00a0) do not let you grow easily…u00a0
Gosh it feels so weird seeing my high school colleague’s article here.nnVery much like him indeed..straight up to the point and very assertive I’d saynNot to menton conservative.
I agree
You are right. If we act, we can be the change we seek.
make that two pair of eyes. It certainly opened mine too 🙂
If only we were as conscientious as BAN WHI MIN …still, let’s hope and pray, we will turn into ones…
Its definitely a time to think and act….coz its now or never…..thanxx a lot to u Mr. MIN for reminding us what we were missing and where we have been lacking…..i dont know abt others but yes definitely a pair of eyes has been opened by reading this article…
we have to be the change we want to see in Nepal. Starts with us.
UJ bro i really like it…my question is, is it possible for us to develop our country without giving freaking care to India? I thought for long time and eventually i said yes we can but its not gonna happen in a yera or two, it will take at least couple of decades for sure. For this all we need is people to start workind hard and thinking about their country in from their respective status. Lets dream of a day where this corrupted leader will be like Louis 16th of France. To be honest I think this leaders are to be blamed for all this situation in country. How can there be economic development in a country when budget time has passed by 2 months. Lets all do best from our side and we will bring change in our country,
It is shame on us who pretend to be so-called educated, aware and Mr./Ms. know-all. Thanks a lot to this 15-year Korean guy for being at least an eye-opener for our stupid intellectuals………………
glad it helped you!
Good one Sagar. Talk is cheap here ! I don’t see much uniting among passionate people. We could do it if we passionate ones united and led !
I agree Spriha !
what we people did during Hrithik Scandal..strike…is that a real solution, nope. we must have known that a single strike in the country makes millions of losses. strike is not a right solution.
we the Nepali people don’t lack the passion – we got abundance of that – what we lack is sacrifice and action – talk is cheap
wah re ajay? wha? kyaa baat boldiya aapney – keep hating India – have you seen where India is now?
it’s us, the people who become the leader one day – just the way the now leaders were in our position before they took the office – Rahul – that’s the whole purpose of this article – we need to stop with the blame games. rnYou be the change you dream of seeing…rnMahatma Gandhi…
thnxx for posting it here It helped me for my assignment LOlZzzz
great feedbacks !
well to feel patriotic the leaders of the country has to lead the way.they are misleading the way for nepalese people.
We tried to be patriotic.Under the circumtances now being patriotic means excercising our rights.We did that.We voted for 601 leaders to write constitution.We dutifully paid our taxes.Now what happens when the it is turn for the leaders to react they fight for their posts and chairs.Being a citizen what more can you ask for when you are house arrested for more than a week and not being able to work when you want to.
All the patriotism goes away when you are house arrested for a week and you have nth to eat in your house.There is much more to come now.
People have tried to become patrotic by going against Ranas and kings time and again but the result is same.
Sorry buddy patriotism wont work here coz this is nepal not korea.I wont cry for my country because i have had enough of it.
It is time for us Nepalis to be patriotic by building Nepal rather than blaming our neighbors only for all our problems..
hate inida and you are a patriotic Nepali!
agree Tajim, need to act with common sense and show by being pro-active , not reactive.
Well Buddy, I disagree. Nepalis are not 100% Patriotic. I am too a Nepali myself and i know it very well.
Our Patriotism is only limited to anti-Indianism. Period.
If India does or says something about Nepal. We go GAGA.
But when it comes to working for country. Everyone backs out. You can burn 100s of Hrithik roshan effigy but thats not going to help country.
You got to work for country to show your real Patriotism.
I agree with you. Also I want to add that Good leaders don't become good leaders until they have a good support structure that is supporting him/her. I feel we don't have a good leader because we don't support \”actively\” good people who are trying to break in to the leadership of the country. How many of us try to be that support structure to these upcoming leaders. We expect good leaders to arise without our help (which doesn't happen usually)..
I believe that our country needs a proper leader… as its said "it takes one bad leader to ruin the nation" very true, nepalese are easily manipulated. and why would they not be?? they are illiterate naive and poverty still lingers from their head to the toe..Nepalese love their country without a shadow of doubt but they are helpless at this point. they are dissappointed and they dont have a vision. that is the reason they are leaving the country because they see no prospect any more. Until and Unless we have a good leader, I dont think we can have a better nepal
Loving is caring but maybe we need more than just saying we love ? our actions should determine our patriotism…don't you agree ?
Yes, there's caste in Nepal and its really frustrating at times and the fact that we are not united together. but we do LOVE our country. for many reasons, many Nepalese did leave the country and youths in Nepal seem to be quiet but that doesn't necessarily mean that we don't care about what's going on. WE DO CARE and WE LOVE our COUNTRY, NEPAL to death.
Ha… Who says Nepalis aren’t patriotic… Look at how the country burned over Hrithik Roshan’s alleged derogatory remark
about Nepal. Look at how Nepalis react at the misinformed assertion that Buddha was born in India…
Nepalis are very patriotic, but misguided perhaps, easily swayed by rumours floating around.
Will – now that’s something lacking in Nepalis…
yeh.
its true..i too agree wid this korean guy..
yeh i agree. amazing writeup!
Well said!