J0014

Amor Patrio

After the fashion of the ancient Hebrews who offered in the temple the first fruits of their love, we in a foreign

land, dedicate our first accounts to our country, enshrouded among the clouds and mists of morn, always

beautiful and poetic, but ever more idolized in proportion as we are absent and away from it Under

whatever aspect, whatever its name, we love her (patria) always just as the child loves its mother in the

midst of hunger and misery.

And how strange! The poorer and more miserable she is, the more we suffer for her, and the more she is

idolized and adored; yes, there is real joy in suffering for her

Child, we love to play; adolescent, we forget it; youth, we seek our ideal; disillusioned, we weep and go in

quest of something more positive and more useful; parent, the children die and time gradually erases our

pain just as the air of the sea slowly effaces the shores as the boat departs from them. But, love for country

can never be effaced, once it has entered the heart, because it carries in itself the divine stamp that makes

it eternal and imperishable.

04 Handout 1 *Property of STI

Page 1 of 1