Perhaps low pride is proof of an American awakening. In any case, "pride" is an interesting concept.
Google tells me, "Pride is a positive emotional response or attitude to something with an intimate connection to oneself, due to its perceived value. This may be one's own abilities or achievements, positive characteristics of friends or…
Perhaps low pride is proof of an American awakening. In any case, "pride" is an interesting concept.
Google tells me, "Pride is a positive emotional response or attitude to something with an intimate connection to oneself, due to its perceived value. This may be one's own abilities or achievements, positive characteristics of friends or family, or one's country." It is derived, however (still according to Google), from the Late Old English "pryde", meaning "excessive self-esteem".
So, while pride may be a positive emotion, a normal feeling common to all people at one time or another when justified by circumstances, clearly there is a point at which pride can become excessive, especially when there is insufficient circumstantial justification. So I am proud when my risotto ai carciofi is up to my Italian wife's high culinary standards, while she is proud when she is able to beat me at backgammon, a game I have played - even with strangers for money - since I was a child, while she played it for the first time when we were first locked down by the pandemic 14 months ago.
But, should my wife be so proud of all the amazingly good Italian food she is able to cook that she dismisses me as a "burger-eater", or should I be so proud of my backgammon abilities that I dismiss her (occasional!) victory as "pure luck, my dear, you'd be nowhere without double sixes"? Pride may be a pleasurable, hard-to-hide emotion, natural and even inevitable in all of us, but when we express it with more than a faint smile it tends to irritate those around us. Natural self-esteem, when even slightly excessive, can become irritating in a big way. Like most good things, there is a limit.
If I had gone to war to fight the Nazis and done my duty to the utmost and survived to tell the tale, would I be entitled to feel proud about that? Sure. If students, after much study and worry and missed social occasions, ace their organic chemistry exam, do they have a right to feel proud? Of course. But if I'm watching the US Olympic Men's basketball team wipe up the court with some other nation's Olympic team, should I jump up (spilling beer all over myself) and begin screaming "USA! USA! We're number 1!"? No, I shouldn't, not unless my brother is Steph Curry or LeBron James.
To sum up, there is the pride of Democrats (faint smile, "Good job, Joe Biden.") And there is GOP pride (raised AR-15, "America, Love it or Leave it!).
Perhaps low pride is proof of an American awakening. In any case, "pride" is an interesting concept.
Google tells me, "Pride is a positive emotional response or attitude to something with an intimate connection to oneself, due to its perceived value. This may be one's own abilities or achievements, positive characteristics of friends or family, or one's country." It is derived, however (still according to Google), from the Late Old English "pryde", meaning "excessive self-esteem".
So, while pride may be a positive emotion, a normal feeling common to all people at one time or another when justified by circumstances, clearly there is a point at which pride can become excessive, especially when there is insufficient circumstantial justification. So I am proud when my risotto ai carciofi is up to my Italian wife's high culinary standards, while she is proud when she is able to beat me at backgammon, a game I have played - even with strangers for money - since I was a child, while she played it for the first time when we were first locked down by the pandemic 14 months ago.
But, should my wife be so proud of all the amazingly good Italian food she is able to cook that she dismisses me as a "burger-eater", or should I be so proud of my backgammon abilities that I dismiss her (occasional!) victory as "pure luck, my dear, you'd be nowhere without double sixes"? Pride may be a pleasurable, hard-to-hide emotion, natural and even inevitable in all of us, but when we express it with more than a faint smile it tends to irritate those around us. Natural self-esteem, when even slightly excessive, can become irritating in a big way. Like most good things, there is a limit.
If I had gone to war to fight the Nazis and done my duty to the utmost and survived to tell the tale, would I be entitled to feel proud about that? Sure. If students, after much study and worry and missed social occasions, ace their organic chemistry exam, do they have a right to feel proud? Of course. But if I'm watching the US Olympic Men's basketball team wipe up the court with some other nation's Olympic team, should I jump up (spilling beer all over myself) and begin screaming "USA! USA! We're number 1!"? No, I shouldn't, not unless my brother is Steph Curry or LeBron James.
To sum up, there is the pride of Democrats (faint smile, "Good job, Joe Biden.") And there is GOP pride (raised AR-15, "America, Love it or Leave it!).