Books all over

Last night I was trying to tidy up my books and find a home for them all. You know what it's like, books shelves so tightly packed that when you pull out a book all the flipping lot fall to the floor. I always seem to have books all over the floor anyway, so it was time to pack some of them into crates. I can’t throw any of them away. Why I need an old book on DOS I don’t know but I can’t bring myself to sling it.

Anyway, I came across a few books which I haven’t read and didn’t know I had. They’re in a brand new condition and I must have got them free with something. The books are:

Bryan Magee - Confessions of a philosopher
The Dalai Lama - How to Practise - The Way to a Meaningful Life
A.G. Grayling - The Meaning of Things

I picked up the latter and it fell open on the Chapter ‘Nationalism’. Immediately, I’m ready for a fight with this book. Why? Because I don’t like ‘Nationalism’. I do not have a strong sense of being British and I am not particularly proud to be British either. I was born here and I like living here but that's as far as it goes really. I worry that being true to one's country and following leaders is one of the most dangerous things on the planet. I need not have got so uptight over the title of this chapter.

A few snippets:

Nationalism is an evil. It causes wars........

.........if someone said ‘I am going to send your son to kill the boy next door’ you would hotly protest. But only let him seduce you with ‘Queen and Country’... snip....and you would find yourself permitting him to send all our sons to kill not just the sons of people, but other people indiscriminately.

Much nonsense is talked about nations as entities:.....

Nations are artificial constructs....

And one should not confuse culture and nationality:........

I think we all know deep in our hearts that we have a wider responsibility. A responsibility to the world as a whole. We can’t live behind false boundaries and a little flag. Just thinking of ourselves and our own environment or even putting our country first, doesn’ t work. We are all dependant on the entire world's resources.