American Pride

I never gave much thought to my nationality, my level of patriotism nor how America is perceived in this world.  I just always felt like I am lucky to live in the greatest country in the world and proud that it is well respected by many others. Well, times have changed and I had my first “bout” of anti-Americanism while visiting British friends recently. In the U.K. for a celebration, we were jokingly - but not jokingly - introduced as their Canadian friends. Haha. But their local friends continued to refer to us as Canadian all weekend and some seemed truly disgusted with us based on their political views.  They couldn’t see us as individuals but rather as some geopolitical concept that they now boycott.  It made me feel angry, frustrated and sad.  Americans get to choose their political leaders in a democratic and fair election and we also get to live with the consequences - good and bad. Despite the fact that I’m half-Canadian (my mom was born in Halifax, N.S.), I am as proud today as I have ever been to be American. And that’s no joke.