We call a patriot a person who loves the country. But this is only briefly.
The word patriot comes from the Latin word “patria” – fatherland, homeland, birthplace. A patriot is a person who preserves the memory of the past, who knows the history of his birthplace. A patriot is always a man who knows his history and, accordingly, knows what he protects and what he fights for. A patriot is an alert and active person. Maybe not always kind, sometimes strict and angry.
The people we call patriots are those who remind us who we are, what our symbols are, and what our cause is. If there are no patriots, we will sink into the common humanity. This in itself is not bad, but let's imagine the following theoretical situation in which there is no nationality, there are no patriotic people. They ask us – Who are we? We look around, immersed in common human existence and see nothing special. We don't see anything specific to “hook” our view. So we helplessly shrug our shoulders – We don't know... They ask us – What is your flag, your flag, what is your coat of arms? – We look around again and see none of this. Again we answer - Unknown… They ask - What are your historical symbols, what is your story? Again – Unknown...
The patriot is like a waved flag among the common people, he carries the national. When there is, we already see our flag – white, red, green, we see the yellow upright Bulgarian lion, we see a dark green pennant forgotten over the centuries, we see royal coats of arms and battle banners. We see our historical development – ancient, present, future.
The patriot is our flag. It sometimes hangs in the windless space, sometimes it floats smoothly in the air, and sometimes it flaps loudly in the stormy wind.