I quite honestly have a hard time with the whole "pride" thang in the first place. I think it my upbringing. I was never taught to be "proud" of my country. In my growing-up-book, pride was one of the 7 capital sins, not a good thing to be.

As I grew up, I have found that "pride" has been used to divide people, rather than unite them. AKA, pride in one's nation used to vilify another. OR... used by an oppressed group to try to lift up itself somehow.

I still have a hard time with "pride"... or better say "Pride," with capital P.

Maybe part of it is because I was raised in countries that have a history of military dictatorships. People in the military were NOT looked at as honorable, but rather with distrust. In addition, because of the dictatorships, the military created an environment of corruption that benefited them, even though they are no longer in power. Thus, the military as a whole has no good credentials.

Here in the US, on the other hand.... the military is held to an extremely high regard. I myself am amazed to hear Rachel call herself as a national security liberal. At times she sounds to me as being very militaristic. It was good to read in the NYT that her dad was in the military during the Vietman war because it helped me put her comments into context.... but still... I can get uncomfortable with her comments. Heck! One of the things that I consider a family bonus was when my dad left military school when he was young.

I can't help but see a connection between American pride, and this being a very militaristic country. Maybe, only maybe, this is why the US does not seem to hesitate to get involved in wars in other countries, or launch covert operations to disrupt democracies. Not sure if this is the case or not, but it is something that makes me go hmmmmm.....

This always gives me a lot to think about. Quite honestly I have yet to come to some conclusion of my own about the whole concept, be American Pride, military pride, Native Pride, Gay Pride, or being proud of being who one is. At times I wish we could just be OK for things to simply be, without any qualitative (proud v. ashamed) attached to it. And then at times I think that it is awesome to be proud of fill-in-the-blank. This is one of the concepts that intrigue me about my new land, and how I fit in it.