I just remember that we all sat in front of our old black and white
Philips TV set and eagerly watching a domestic football match while holding our breath.

Shahin and FC Taj were battling out in the scorching Tehran sun and I was hardly aware of the football rules.

It was hard to recognize the teams by the colors of their shirts as  on a black and white TV both red and blue colors looked the same.

One thing was for sure, I knew that both teams belonged to Iran.

Sometime before the game I had asked my father what the nationality  meant and he explained that you belonged to where you
were born in, thus, my nationality was Iranian and I was Iranian by birth.

How come I was siding with the Shahin team when I knew Taj was also consisted of Iranian players?

I guess since my older brother had been a fan of Shahin for sometime then and I just followed suit! However; I must admit that I did like the label Shahin quite a lot.

Both teams were rolling the ball properly and trying to put it into the net of the opposite side.

Jabbari took a hard long shot and the goali made a courageous save.

A minute later we almost jumped into the air as the header by Kalani just missed the post.

It was getting more and more exciting as the two teams spared no efforts to score the winning goal.

When one of the goalies made another remarkable save, my great grandmother uttered a huge scream saying" what the hell the man in the box is doing? he is preventing the ball from going into the goal!

Then everybody began to laugh and trying to explain the matter to the grandma but she simply refused to buy it.

Regardless of the score which was a draw, the people cheered for both teams.

What is this emotion that boils in our body and soul whenever it comes to our country or our heritage?

We feel so proud of our nationality that our heart start beating out of
normal proportion every time a compatriot achieves something. Whether it is a sporting trophy or a scientific accomplishment.

This emotion is easy to define, yet hard to perceive.

That is why it is of great significance to study our history and get  awareness of our heritage, learn from our ancestor's experiences and failures.

Faramarz Bagheri S.

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