Rabbi Shergil Singer For some years now I've become a little blasé and a bit jaded about all things patriotic. Is it because lately patriotism has sometimes become a means of screening them? And this is my chief grouse - this us & them business. There is no third option to the question of patriotism. Nation is a model to realising the goal of a just planet, a harmonious cosmic existence. To ask me to become emotional about it, to lug it around my neck is to curb fresh thinking and well, a little obscurantist.