I’ll go. I’m still proud of every American who has held in there through these 8 years and not given up on turning things around. We know what it is to live free and despite all the obstacles ahead there is still places that you can experience it.
Honestly, I’d say the national park system. But that’s a “for however long we still have it.”
You mean the future oil fields of America?
It’ll be full of oil rigs before you know it.
Our country is beautiful, and we have an incredibly diverse array of climates. Tropical beaches, vast deserts, snow capped peaks, dense forest, sprawling grasslands. And so much of our land is protected in National Parks, BLM, National Forests… It’s truly a treasure.
I agree, the majority of Americans are decent, not racist or various forms of genophobic, and resisting as best they can. The government and media has merged into a monster. ii looks huge and scary; that’s by design. If you give up hope, they have won.
I’m proud that a man can overcome extravagant wealth and luxury, a low IQ, a criminal record, extreme narcissism to climb all the way to the top to become the worst leader in history.
It’s sad that you could be talking about one of two people
Forrest Trump.
Truly inspiring!
I’m legitimately struggling to answer this right now. I have little pride for nations in general, and none whatever for ours at the moment. I have plenty of pride for individuals and groups that are trying to do the right thing, but there’s nothing unique to America in that regard.
^ this. I’ve lived in other countries. Lots of Americans would benefit from traveling or living abroad. Nationalism is silly, and gets weaponized by the ruling class.
Despite this anti-immigrant push from the far right, we are very accepting of immigrants in general. If you’ve lived in the US for a while and speak English, we assume you are American and we consider you to be American. You don’t even need to have citizenship to necessarily be considered American by the average person. You just have to have been here for a while. This is much more open and accepting and than the vast majority of countries are.
Even though there is a tsunami of hate, more than half the country is outraged and truly wants to defend those being targeted. I’m still proud of that, it’s the propaganda that affects the 30+% of the population that really sucks…
Remember: the entire population doesn’t vote. Roughly half of the voting population chooses this hatred.
I guess apathy is slightly better than hate, but it’s kind of hard to be proud that so many people see all this hate and chose to not vote.
The apathy is definitely aggravating as well is the “both sides are terrible so I’m not participating at all.” My mom is one of the latter for sure :/
My hobby is genealogy. Almost every generation seems to have someone in the family that endured significant hardship but made it through. The most recent one I found was a young child burned to death in a barn fire. Others are kids orphaned by flu or other illness. I always find that one person that could have quit - but didn’t. Americans seem to have a recessive resilient gene. It comes out only at dire need. This can give us great hope these days.
The cities and states fighting back and keeping some sanity in these time. Best I got. I mean given our history we really need to be the best we can to make the best of ourselves that we can to justify our existence and we have been failing hard for ugh. Most of my life now.
Some things I’m proud of:
- The citizens that volunteer their time to defend the potential of others in their communities. E.g. youth development, homeless assistance.
- The common principles the nation is built on (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness) and bind us together. Today, it seems the many ways those principles are interpreted has splintered society. However, in my experience, most Americans feel strongly about those principles, and they can be used as a basis for relationships across many unlikely social groups.
I think it’s easiest to be proud of your country and fellow citizens when you start interacting meaningful with your neighbors with an open mindset, regardless of their world view.
It’s kind of interesting that America does this thing where we punish ourselves.
And by punishing ourselves I mean the rich people bond together to torment the poor people by flaunting their wealth and exacerbating their poverty until the poors scream and struggle.
Typically this happens while natural disasters are also happening like the dust bowl or when earthquakes, fires and plagues beleaguer the nation.
We do this in order to make ourselves feel better in the long run by overcoming that and returning to a point where the rich people are not bonding together so tightly and the poor people are not so oppressed that they would rather die than continue living.
We are pretty good at that, and it has sustained this economy for at least the last 120 years.
But aside for that, I’m proud of the fact that the poors persevere, and that eventually the rich will unmake themselves, and we will inherit the earth.
We know what it is to live free
If you’re white-cis-het-male, and obey all gender norms, obviously. Oh also rich.
Being rich doesn’t allow you to live free. It allows you to live in excess.
Living free is about being able to be who you are. Some people get the short end of the stick in our culture but they get basic freedoms many around the globe never get to experience. Yes, it is declining but there are plenty all around you that have experienced it.
