Ask not what Rwanda can do for you…

Ask not, what your country can do for you. Ask what, you can do for your country.” The great American President John F. Kennedy used these words to exhort his fellow Americans to patriotism. The relationship between the citizen and the state can be a very complicated affair. Most of the time, perhaps because the state is bigger than the individual, the latter expects to be the recipient of all things good from the state. In our part of the world, the government is expected to provide healthcare, education, jobs and everything else. Our job is but to receive and claim our rights. Typically, our perception of liberty is heavily skewed on rights and very thin on responsibility. But is this really the way it should be?The JFK clarion call to patriotism is as relevant to us in Rwanda today as it was to the Americans then. Look at it this way, suppose we were all alone as a people, what would you do to ensure that your family, community, country survives? Those creative thoughts are what you should be exhibiting for yourself and your immediate environment. “Patriotism”, the devoted love, support and defence of one’s country is much more than its dictionary definition. As Rohan, in his blog puts it…the word “patriotism” evokes a feeling of responsibility in both good and bad times, that the country always needs us. The spirit of patriotism keeps the country united, it brings people from different walks of life to work together to make the country better, stronger and prosperous. The continuous fight for protecting our fundamental values (imicyo) is the real patriotism. In Rwanda, this means that we should involve working hard towards defining and establishing our dignity (agaciro) and aspirations as a country, towards building national unity and fighting genocide ideology. It is about keeping Rwanda on the positive track.Patriotism and prosperity are birds of a feather. A little insight into most countries show that the more prosperous countries also have very patriotic citizens. This is true regardless of the political system in place. The converse is also true. Lack of patriotism the key cause of countries to fail in almost everything else. It is manifested in corruption, impunity and general lethargy in the population.Patriotism has economic benefits Japan has just shown this recently; motivates and invigorates. Shinzo Abe, the current Japanese Prime Minister has within his first five months in office, been able to electrify a nation that had lost faith so much that, the stock market has risen by 55%. Consumer spending pushed up growth in the first quarter to an annualised 3.5%. This is no mean feat in a Japanese economy that has stagnated since 1991.Closer home, Rwanda’s superb economic growth can be attributed to the patriotism exhibited by Rwandans under the exemplary leadership of President Paul Kagame.Unlike times of adversity when choices as to what are patriotic are starkly clear, if difficult, times of prosperity can be tricky. It need not be. You love the country when you seek to improve your situation. Any honest and productive labour is an act of patriotism. Productive labour means that when you work you make a difference at your station, not just look only for the salary or profit you make. You must be of service to your customers and your immediate environment.The wo(man) with a plan goes a long way. Planning and executing the plan as quickly as possible in order to get to the next level. Look at it this way; with each person who climbs the socio-economic ladder so does the country. The taxes increase, as does the spending and the aggregate economy. Peace and stability is also assured. Ordinarily, richer countries are less likely to have internal turmoil. People with more to lose are likely to seek less tumultuous solutions to their problems. This peace –prosperity cycle is self sustaining and spirals upwards.Your role and mine in making Rwanda or your country peaceful, prosperous and stable is quite big. It begins with your service to yourself and is hinged on patriotism. In the absence of patriotism, negative discriminative things such as tribalism, sectarianism, nepotism and genocide ideology take over as nature abhors vacuum Make the right choice and do the right thing. Ask what you can do for Rwanda! Be liberated!