http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYY73RO_egw

So she was proud to be an American as a child, went to Harvard and until just recently was not proud to be an American???

What about that troubles you?

I'm not proud to be an American.

Seems like a patently silly thing to be proud of. Kind of like being proud I have a nose.

If it isn't obvious than I am afraid I am even more troubled.

K Den... Good luck working through that.

I think there's a difference between saying you don't feel blessed (or lucky) to be an American and saying that you feel that this country has fallen short of its ideals (whatever you believe them to be). After all, wasn't the entire Reagan revolution about restoring pride in America?

In large part "pride" is linked to how others regard you.


Based on my experience, it was during the Regan Administration that people in our allied countries (UK, France, etc...) began to question our national policies and grumble about them. Bush the senior ushered in the era of open dissent, Clinton ratcheted the rhetoric down a few notches and turned the focus to simply laughing at the President (what is is, etc...) while Bush the junior put us over the top in terms of both hatred of America and making a laughingstock of the office of the President abroad.

Nothing to do with this thread, but I completely disagree about "pride"

It's got nothing to do with how others regard you. By definition, it's how you regard yourself. Whether you choose to base your self-regard on how others regard you is optional. But the word refers only to self-regard.

I was discussing "National pride" not personal. However in either case I think how my friends feel about me and my actions is very directly tied to my own sense of pride. If all my friends think I'm acting like a petulant child then my pride suffers.

Using an internal gauge separate from the outside world seems less like pride and more like Ego.

That's what my heart yearns for now - love and pride.
That's what my heart yearns for now - love and pride.

Start your journey early or maybe later
get your boots on

Look for rainbows
it's cloudy

Take your hairdryer
blow them all away.

In you I've found a story I want to keep hearing.
In you I see all colours
not just black or white.
In you I find a reason and hope for all dreamers

You are my fill
you're my supply of love and pride.
That's what my heart yearns for now - love and pride. . . .

Knowing
sensing
seeing
eating
sleeping
that's just being.
Touching
testing
loving
wanting and taking

more love and more pride.
In you I've found a story I want to keep hearing. . . .

I'm taking it round the world - some love and pride.
That's what my heart yearns for now - love and pride. . . .
That's what my heart yeanis for now - love and pride. . . .

:D

And now back to your regularly scheduled thread...