Man, Country, Humanity

I was skimming old books in my office library when I came across an anthology of public policy pieces circa 1998. I was struck by the quote below:

Your first Duties .. are .. to Humanity. You are men before you are citizens or fathers .. But what can each of you, with his isolated powers, do for the moral improvement, for the progress of Humanity? … The individual is too weak and Humanity is too vast…But when God gave you this means when he gave you a country, when, like a wise overseer of a labor, who distributes the different parts of work according to the capacity of workmen, he divided the seeds of nations…Without Country you have neither name, token, voice, nor rights, no admission as brothers into the fellowship of Peoples. You are the bastards of Humanity…Do not beguile yourselves with the hope of emancipation from unjust social conditions if you do not first conquer a Country for yourselves…Do not be led away by the idea of improving your material conditions without first solving the national question…In laboring according to the true principles for our Country we are laboring for Humanity; our Country is the fulcrum of the lever which we have to wield for the common good. If we give up this fulcrum we run the risk of becoming useless to our Country and to Humanity. Before associating ourselves with the Nations which compose Humanity we must exist as a nation. (quote of Guiseppe Mazzini in late 1861, Dahbour & Ishay 1995)

Here’s my question: While we evidently have conquered a Country for ourselves, why are so many of us leaving? We seem to be restless in our own skin, on our own land. What would make our conquest feel more glorious, satisfying and permanent than it is? Perhaps if we start making a list, our nation’s soul would be a better reflection of its citizens’ and vice-versa. If you were to draw up a list of the factors or elements that would make us have a deeper and more powerful sense of Country, what would you include?