I saw a poll asking whether you are proud to be an American. I have been kicking around an idea for an article for so long it doesn't even matter anymore about the issue of pride.
Personally, I am proud of virtually nothing of which I don't have control over. If my country does good, but it had nothing to do with me, there is nothing to be "proud" of.
Hell it doesn't even have to be that macro. Being proud of your grandfather fighting Nazis is also something I find weird. You didn't do anything with regard to that. You had no influence over it. You can be glad or relieved. But proud?
To be even more introspective, even being proud of the things you yourself have done, without a healthy nod to how a lot of that has nothing to do with you and you alone, is silly. Like being proud of your work ethic. That has at least a 50/50 shot of being part of your DNA anyway. Being proud of how you kept your body and mind in shape, or how much you know about a subject, or how you react to your environs and situationsm comes back to having time and opportunity to do so in the first place, let alone the right genes that allow you to be able to take advantage of those things you have lucked into.
I don't worry. Don't have it in me. Can handle every situation without getting flustered or too bothered and usually figure out how to get out of every jam. I know that has nothing to do with some thing I learned or something I was taught or something that really is nothing more that just being a by-product of the chemicals that make up my ole brain. Maybe my lessons learned over the years have helped polish that but that too is just another roll of the genetic dice.
So, proud to be an American? Who cares? I'm disgusted by far too many who make up this country to even think of being proud of it, even when it seems to be doing things semi-correctly. In the immortal words of that little girl in the backseat trying to put on her sealtbet: