a rant on some types of pride

by withhollandaise

"til we find our place... on the path unwinding"

Pride. It’s in meeee! It’s in us all, or most of us. It’s part of the circle of life, I think. Here’ a rant on the some of the different shapes and sizes of PRIDE. Each pride rant first comes with complaints, then a bit of sympathy, because that’s how I do.

1.  Ethnicity Pride
I’m filipino which kind of gives me bashing rights to the following example: There are some breakthrough filipino celebs out there – like that Maria Aragon girl on YouTube who sang “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga. BUT JEEZ, must we make the whole world aware that they’re filipino? YouTuber: “Go filipinos! Filipino pride!”
I understand the reason for the pride. Ethnicity hits home. It’s part of identity, and it’s common ground. But really, I question how much of a role ethnicity actually plays in their success. I so LOL at the comments of other people saying “WE GET IT!” I gave those a thumbs up.
Aaaaand, it even trickles down to celebrities that are a smidgen filipino… so smidgen that if we were cupcakes, they’d have like filipino sprinkles. Enrique Iglesias. He’s 1/4 or something like that. Didn’t know that? Well, now you know!
I’ve seen this happen with other ethnicities, too. Let’s get over ourselves! Thank you.

2.  Grad school Pride
During undergrad, I saw a lot of this.
I plan to do grad school soon but the thought of saying “I’m in grad school (hemhem*)” makes me cringe as it brings back memories of certain people that have said it to me with this air. There are those that for some reason, don’t seem pretentious. I don’t know what they do… maybe it’s the way they declare it.
Of course, this IS something to be proud of. Higher education is very valuable! This one’s a tough kind of pride to overshadow…
* “hem hem” like how the Queen says it.

3.  My-degree-is-harder-than-yours Pride
Dear fellow sciences or engineering students, let us not look down on art students! Yes, science degrees and especially (yes, I said it) engineering degrees are very demanding – just don’t say arts & social science degrees are useless! Degrees exist for a reason. Every field offered in University or College give rise to professions that make the world go round. In fact, also training courses not even offered in post-secondary education DO as well!
One professor did point out that jobs are more in demand for industry, which caters to science and engineering degrees. Many art&social science graduates don’t find jobs in their field. I don’t have stats to reinforce this, but it seems likely from the people I know. This may be one sad truth to this type of pride…
Well, people want to study what they want to study! Let’s quit comparing and bashing. Focus on your own goals.

4.  Profession Pride
Doctor. Lawyer. Manager. Those words are GOLDEN!
I find it funny how it sneaks its way in conversation. Especially with aunts and the like. “Oh, do you know Sylvie? She’s married now… to a DOCTOR.”
Here’s the sympathy part. I believe that professions vary on the degree of dedication involved and the mentioned ones do require some mad skillz. HOWEVER, I do not think it should DEFINE a person, or automatically improve “worth”. This reminds me of a time when my gold-digger cousin visited us with her DOCTOR husband. All my aunts call him DOCTOR! I asked, “Why are we calling him DOCTOR? What’s his real name?” wow, my family definitely kissed his feet alright. And he loved it, which made me not like him.
ps: Sorry to all the doctors out there for using them as an example.  And also to all the med school students and interns out there… as a token, I won’t make a Pride category for you. LOL
pps: This applies except for astronauts. Too cool, too cool.

5.  Defensive Pride
This is pretty much the regular kind of pride we have dealt with.
Sorry.
Is all that you can’t say?
Years gone by and still… 
Words don’t come easily…
Like sorry, like sorry                Baby Can I Hold You – Tracy Chapman
This one’s pretty hard… yet it’s my favourite kind of pride, if I can say that correctly. I like it because it’s the most raw, the very essence of it all. It’s also the one that I find hardest to eliminate.

6.  Hardship Pride
I think it’s the only one that I’ll champion. LGBTQ Pride. Black Pride… Out-of-poverty pride. There’s a historical or humanitarian context. But it should not be blown out of proportion! OK, boisterous gay ppl can. But other than them, no!
Doesn’t this coincide with ethnicity pride? Hmmm… I don’t think so. Maybe waaaaay back when, but these days with the growing worldview and all this mixing and mingling, it’s going to be eventually absurd to even bring up.

In conclusion, we’re vulnerable. As we live our lives, we acquire education, career, family, hobbies, identities –  which we use as SHIELDS. They give us something to be proud about. And when violated, we bring them up.