The definition of the word patriotism is an "emotional attachment to a nation which an individual recognizes as their homeland." This attachment, also known as national feeling or national pride, can be viewed in terms of different features relating to one's own nation, including ethnic, cultural, political or historical aspects. Last Saturday —at 6:59 pm— one of the strongest earthquakes in decades hit Ecuador. I heard it first from my cousins, uncles, and aunts, who started talking in our family WhatsApp group. “Are you guys ok? Did you feel it too? Was it an earthquake? I can’t communicate with my daughter! Where are you?” They were all very confused. On the other side, there I was with the rest of the family that live abroad tripling the confusion. We didn’t understand what was happening. At the beginning, I thought it was a normal earthquake, like the ones we get in Peru all the time. But as I was desperately seeing the word typing on top of the chat, suddenly, all of them lost connection. That’s when I got a feeling that I have never felt before. It was a mixture of worry, pain, impotence, sadness, and guilt. I can’t even explain it. My family and I waited impatiently together in the living room, waiting to hear back from them. After about 25 minutes, they started getting signal and finally started explaining everything carefully. I can tell you, those 25 minutes felt like 2 long hours. All of them were able to gather with their families and were all safe. But I still had the same feeling; it wouldn’t go away. I started to get worried because it was an unknown feeling that I hadn’t felt in 18 years. I tried to ignore it and went to sleep. As soon as I opened my eyes the next day, the feeling was still there. I couldn’t get rid of it. So I began thinking about it, trying to find an answer. “Maybe I got a heavy flu or something,” I began to think to myself, trying to escape from it again. But as soon as I grabbed my phone, I saw hundreds of videos on Facebook about the earthquake. It was apparently stronger than what my family thought it was and it had greatly affected small cities like Manabí and Bahía. There was one specific video that really stood out to me, it was about how amazing the Ecuadorians were reacting to this tragic event. (Linked at the bottom) The feeling just got worse as I kept seeing every minute of this video and I concluded that maybe this awful feeling was because my country was completely destroyed. My country, I have never said that. I should tell you a little bit about my background story. I was born in Ecuador but because I have moved nine times to seven different countries, I did not consider myself an Ecuadorian. I never felt an attachment to this country, and so never classified it as home. But when the earthquake hit Ecuador, I felt like it hit me, I suffered everyday for the people that lost their homes and family members as if I had lost mine. I knew I had to do something to help my country and all of the victims, so I immediately contacted Mr. Akin and proposed doing an out of uniform day to raise funds and help my compatriots. By raising awareness in our community and collecting more than 8,000 soles we were able to donate about 200 mattresses to all the Ecuadorians who became homeless. Even though this was a terrible event that caused so much suffering to millions of people, it was also a significant thing for me because it finally opened my eyes and allowed me to see that I am an Ecuadorian and I should be extremely proud of being one. Seeing all of the campaigns that people from Ecuador did all over the world was a true example of the gigantic hearts and the true passion that we all have for our country and our people. I could even say that this event was the solution to a big struggle that I had, which was discovering where I came from and what was home. I realized that the reason I was worried sick about Ecuador was because of the emotional attachment I have for it. I finally felt a sense of patriotism for a country. I still don’t believe someone should be limited to only one home, because this same passion I feel for Ecuador, I may find in the future with another country that I lived or will live in. Even though I was born in Ecuador, I'm not saying that you need to be born in a country to be emotionally attached to it. But, you will know that you think of a place as home when you get that feeling. So, from now on, whenever people ask me, “where are you from?” or "where were you born?” I will finally have an answer in less than 20 seconds, Ecuador.
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March 2017
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