Past President Mr. J.F.K spoke, ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country. Country can be the United States. Country can be a state. Country can be the country of acres owned. All in all country is somewhere you can put your heart to be at ease within. Now is country, humans or is country land(s)? Is it fair to assume that to be a believer would only be applicable to other humans or might it require similar care and concern to land and other breathing being(s), like the pet dog next door who was left abandoned?
is having/taking care and concern towards other humans, in your 'country' a duty or a choice? is the person, in your country, who is on the sidewalk vomiting openly, your country duty/obligation or free choice to not be concerned; even towards your 'country'? sincerity or free? And what ideals will you leave behind? abandoned or not.
The fear of The LORD. both understanding and wisdom. and both tending unto life. to prefer less, (hate), being used in the English written Holy Bibles to denote 'prefer less', is to prefer less those, material and non, that destroy/do not tend to life. (J)acob He has loved, Esau He hated. (J)acob He had preferred, Essu He preferred less. because when (J)acob, Esau's younger brother was in distress and need, Esau, or Edom, looked upon the trials and pain(s) of (J)acob with insincerity and mockery. Esau/Edom was prefered less. He acted unlovingly as the older brother to his younger brother.
That quote by JFK is frequently taken out of context, as you did. He did not mean in “ do for your country” in an altruistic sense. He meant that in going on with your daily life of working and living you are in fact doing what’s right for your country, by exercising your own independence and freedoms. Not looking to government for your source of welfare.