Monday, March 24, 2014

What Being Patriotic Means


"The wise and magnanimous patriot, by forecasting the distant but certain dangers of his country, affects himself in advance with a zeal and grief and desire, as ardent as those which duller souls can feel under the actual experience of the present calamity. It is this anticipative passion, kindled through the imagination, which nerves his soul to prepare, to watch, to strive, to bleed for his country's defense, while others are as yet unconcerned, and are perhaps accusing him of extravagance." - Robert L. Dabney, A.D. 1870

《翻譯如下》:
「睿智寬宏的愛國之人預見國家將來要面對的危險,這些危險雖仍在遠方,但必定要發生,因此愛國之人的心頭預先燃起熾烈的熱忱、憂傷和渴望;然而較為遲鈍之人是在真實經歷到眼前的災難時,才感受到同等熾烈的熱忱、憂傷和渴望。愛國之人對未來的預期使他心懷熱情,他的想像點燃這股熱情,這股熱情激動他的靈魂,使他為了捍衛國家而預備、守望、奮鬥甚至於流血,而這時別人還漠不關心,也許還指控愛國之人的行動過度激烈。」神學家Robert L. Dabney,一八七0年
(Translated into Mandarin by Melody Chen)

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