by axxxm
Nationality & Individuality（part 1）
9/April/2023 in Tokyo
Japan
Probably I love this country
Probably I love this country much more than I am conscious of
Nationality & individuality is what I've been bothered the most for the past 10 years
or, what I've been intrigued the most for the past 10 years
There is a strong tension between nationality & individuality
Tension is fate
Fate is drama
something we can't consciously choose
something we can't fully control
yet, something we can't entirely escape
Nationality & individuality aren't two independent concept
They are deeply interconnected and always interfered
This becomes apparently apparent when we meet someone from another country
No matter how much we resist, we hate & we deny, we are inevitably categorised, boiled down to a nationality & treated accordingly by this foreign person in front of us
This becomes even further apparently apparent when our country did/does "un-favourable" things
It affects this foreign person's view towards us
This is a very strange thing
I, as an individual, did nothing, but it looks like I did something wrong
In fact I did nothing
But something I've been part of & will be part of eternally did the wrong thing
This is a very strange thing
This is completely opposing to what we are told
In the 21st century we're always told we are unique individuals who are free from anything & everything
We can only understand "an individual responsibility"
"A collective responsibility" is beyond our understanding
or, simply we don't want to accept
The same also goes even when our country did/does favourable things
It's not my personal, my independent, my individual accomplishment
I, as an individual, did nothing, but in front of a foreign person, it feels like I did something good
This is rather a risky environment that easily spoils us
But yet, we can't 100% deny our country
Rather we don't want to deny
If possible, we want to love
Deep down we do know our nationality, and everything related, is a part of our identity
A significant part of our individuality
Just like one's family, just like one's body, our nationality is our fate
We can't fully accept, yet we can't fully escape
Rather we actually deeply love
