Pride

When I hear someone say "I'm proud to be an American" I cringe inside. I can be proud of something I've done, and I can be proud of something someone I love has done. Pride is a satisfaction by which one measures one's stature or self-worth. But I cannot see a reason to be proud of something I had no control over. So I can be, and am, proud of my/our kids for their accomplishments.  My father could be proud to be an American -- he made the choice to immigrate to the US. But I cannot be similarly proud because I made no such choice. What I can be, and what I genuinely am, is grateful and happy to be an American. Most of the time.

But I am proud, button-popping proud, of America this evening. To elect someone who promises a new way to think of America, to reject the politics of fear and division, to make a choice to turn the country towards a more positive relation with the rest of the world, is more welcome than I can say.

And I apologize to all my friends from the Americas who will rightly cringe when I mis-use "America" and "American" as I have done. Please recognize that at this emotional moment I can't really think of a better way to express myself without this clumsy shorthand!