Nation: the word
"Nation" was born from a word that meant "to be born'' came to mean "breed" or "stock."
It next came to mean ''that which has been born,'' that is ''a breed." But it soon came to refer to s species or race.
"Way down yonder in the Indian Nation" is a refrain from an old song which got me to thinking as an America am I of a race or a racist, or both or neither? It seems that most Indian tribes fit the meaning of nation more fully than we do.
Race
So according to the dictionaries, "nation" came to refer to a race of people.
"A race of people" people implies a strong blood or genetic relationship.
History
Our blood and our history seem to have strong effects upon us. A word's history is carried with it, much like your history is part of you. A word seems pretty bloodless, but once one gets into our mind it can get pretty bloody.
Very recently in our history we started to use ''nationality'' and ''nation" in reference to our country of origin and meanings, if not become confused, certainly began to change for many of us. "Nation" has been taken over as a political/legal concept of nation as ''an organized territorial unit.'' by this notion the United States of America can be called a nation.
Webster dictionary
My Webster dictionary uses the words birth and race as part of an ongoing part of the meaning of "nation." It goes on to say that nation refers to a group or aggregation of closely related persons. Closely related persons form a "we." How do we form a we? Can co-operation and communication do the job?
Culture
A common culture forms a we. A culture is learned even though much of that learning is not consciously done. We can learn. It's possible to learn together.
Are we willing to learn together? I think that we create and maintain a more perfect union when we want to. It just takes some doing.
Community
Another dictionary says that what we have come to call a community of people of one or more nationalities and possessing amore or less defined territory and government, is a nation. I can't remember the exact nature of a community just now. I does seem like this dictionary is trying to describe us. How are we describing ourselves these days? Dictionary compilers keep trying to give a realistic definition to a word we have twisted out of shape.
Language
Another modern dictionary tried this. "A nation is is a people, who share common customs, origins, history, and often language." This seems a good try at defining what many people now mean when they use the word, nation. This culture, union.
Legal and Political Actuality
Another more modern dictionary seems to lack heart and feels less congenial to me. It says, a nation is a rather large group of people under a single, usually independent government. Looking at the reality it may be a try at the actual reality, but it is not very attractive.
Country
Well, many of us feel that we have a darn good country. We can be on our way to deciding or remembering who we are and what we are. A country seems an Ok start.
Still, nation, does have a nice ring to it. Could the Navajo nation or Iceland be examples to take a look at. They may be good
examples for nations, but not the right ones for us.
Thanks for reading.
Word Power to you.
rcs