NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

[The Boar]

first, I think that it's mainly the word 'pride' that bothers me. You can be proud of something you've achieved, or maybe of things that people close to you have achieved. But what's the achievement in being born and growing up somewhere? You can love your country, I'll go with that... The posts of T, The Boar and Lfish have made me realise that that is not as wrong as I thought and it can even be beautiful. But pride? I still don't get that.

O, interesting point. I think any individual who has "pride" about coming from America, Holland, etc. instead of another place is not only being arrogant but it is being naive. Of course, it is only by pure chance that one is born in the country that they are.

Admittedly, one can feel "fortunate" one is from a certain country. Honestly, I feel fortunate that I was born in America rather than Communist China. Not because there is anything wrong inherently with China, but I feel that I enjoy more freedoms and liberties in America that I would not enjoy in China. This does not make me better than someone from China, of course, and should not in itself be a source of pride. I think you get my point.

The only way in which a person can feel "proud" of his/her country is, in my opinion, when they have actively committed and invested themselves and their efforts into the country. When I was a child, any source of pride I had in America was unfounded -- it was still only the country of my parents; I as a person had not committed anything to it and thus should not have felt "proud" about it. However, now as a young adult (21), I have become involved and concerned in the welfare of the country, by getting involved in the political process, etc. O, you're right that there is no pride in only being born in a particular place; however, there is pride when one works for the improvement of that place, committing their efforts to the betterment of others and the country as a whole.

Good discussion  :)