What does it mean to love your country?

A story about a mouse, a cat, a dog

and not forgetting...

the bird? o.o

Disclaimer: This story is not original, I merely adapted, translated and renovated it from a Chinese article I read on Sin Chew's Daily today (>_<)

Once upon a time, there was an old, old lady who lived alone in a cottage on top of the mountain. She was a kind, gentle soul who always feeds half of her meals to the animals around her. Besides, she showered the animals with compassion and love, and hence, the animals came to love her in return.

Among the animals closest to her were Bow the dog, Mew the cat, Chit the bird and Tippy the mouse. Every day without fail, Bow, Mew and Chit would flock around the old lady, waiting for her to feed them. And when she did so, they would express their gratitude - Bow by wagging his tail energetically, Mew by rubbing itself against the old lady's legs and Chit by fluttering and twittering around her. However, Tippy did not accept food from the old lady. Instead, it burrowed into the ground, found some plants or grubs or whatever and fed itself. Only after it is full, it will curl up silently by the old lady, waiting for time to pass.

Days passed, and the animals found out that the old lady's birthday was almost approaching. Of course, the most excited among all the animals were none other than the four. Enthusiastically, they went into the forest and started collecting flowers. Bow found some blue bluebells, Mew found some yellow daffodils while Chit found some red hibiscuses. The only odd one out was Tippy, who was burrowing for his food as usual.

"What an ungrateful soul you are, Tippy!" Bow growled at the mouse. "Yeah, we are here, all busy preparing a birthday present for our lovely old lady, but you're just being selfish and minding your own business!" Chit chirped angrily. "I really feel sorry for her...how would she feel if she knew that you don't appreciate what she did for you all this while," Mew purred, smiling nastily at Tippy.

Tippy heard the insults from the three animals, and it paused in its process of food gathering.

"Well, I am different from all of you. Although now I am not preparing a birthday gift for her, that doesn't mean that I'm ungrateful and selfish. Think of yourselves...every day she has to sacrifice half of her meals to feed you, and hence she goes hungry most of the time. On the other hand, I don't depend on her for my food, instead I hunt for them myself. To me, that is the best way to repay her kindness instead of fully depending on her, and showing your gratitude once a year with a flashy, lavish birthday present."

~-~-~

So guys and girls, loving our country doesn't just mean waving or hanging enormous national flags, singing patriotic songs, etc. Sometimes, being independent and resourceful and self-sufficient is the best you can do for your country, as opposed to taking it for granted and just using all the advantages available here.

But of course, contributing to your country will be an added bonus :D just like negative, neutral and positive, get what I mean?