Every year this discussion comes around. What is England? What is englishness and how do english perceive their country? How does History and Modernity join to build a nation?
It's the eternal question of "who am I, where do I come from, where do I go".
What are the definitions of ourselves when it comes to the place where you were born? Do we feel some kind of energy that keeps us attached no matter what? Should the sense of belonging to a land be more symbolic or more patriotic? How close must one feel to a place?
Today is the day of Saint George. And the death of William Shakespeare.
Today is the day of Saint George. And the death of William Shakespeare.
And therefore, the Day of England.
Sharing the name with this religious-mythological-symbolic character has always brought me closer to a land that has left in me a strange feeling of presence despite being distant. I try to keep my link everyday, knowing that this orphan sense of relationship is built on the need that everyone has to know where they come from. There must be some kind of completion that helps to shape a character, a personality, ingredients that mould inner beliefs, a stronghold ground of truth that brings meaning for existance.
England gave me my background values with its sense of fair play, the eagerness to know, the grandeur of History and Culture, the difference of being, the audacity of humour. And these I will always cherish in my heart and mind.
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