Does it stand to reason then that Poles can take pride in the accomplishments of Russians? Egyptians? only if they are half Polish and half russian or Egyptian... even 1/3 and 1/4 could count too :)
Does having the same haplogroup count? The majority of western european men actually share a common ancestor with king tut. So what with all the intermingling over history, it stands to reason some Poles do belong to this haplogroup. My point is, at what point does a person admit they had nothing at all to do with something, don't take pride in it but still admire it all the same?
I certainly dont feel sad or disdain or angry or nothing at all.. if he didnt go, like so many others and fight, things would be much different < it could have changed history> but he did and I am glad, and I am proud he wore his uniform to save others.. makes me feel good.
The course of the world very likely did not depend on your grandfather's contribution, however noble it was, during the war. I'm glad you feel good about his actions though and take issue with any suggestion I'm telling you not to. As far as pride goes, see my previous query.
let me ask you, do you have any family in the past that might have fought for whatever reasons they believed in ? And do you think highly of them for putting themselfs in such a dangerous position? Why does it bother you so much that others want to be proud to begin with? have you ever accomplished anything in your life you can feel good about? do you ever hear good things from someone when you accomplish a goal?
yes to all questions but I feel proud about the things I've done or caused to happen and I feel other emotions which are also positive regarding things I had nothing to do with. Your perspective allows one to feel pride for being born in a particular place or for having a certain eye colour or for belonging to a gender group. It's ridiculous.
The reason why this annoys me is(here comes a simple idea that will take a lot of writing to properly explain and if you make it through then you have my respect on that), other than lazy thinking, because of what it leads to. What I mean is, it affects the way we communicate for the worse. Take your example. All that is required to program people is for there to be a politician telling you what to think or say. Politicians love oversimplification and this kind of thinking leads to gross oversimplifications and that affects you for the worse in the long run. Here's an illustration:
Are you proud of your family?- For sure I am!
Are you proud of your grandfather?-As sure as there was hair on his ass!
Are you part of this country?-Damn straight I am!
Do you take pride in your country?- Of course I am, this country has accomplished so many amazing things!*
Are you proud of everything we stand for?- As God is my witness!
Are you against tyranny?- Of course I am!
Are you against everything "they" stand for?-Of course I am against "them!"
Do you support our country, us, against them, that country over there?-Hell Yeah! They can go to hell!
And that easily you end up with people referring to nations as they would an individual such as in the line with an "*" symbol. Even in the media you'll regularly read or hear that "China did this" or "India wants to do that" and other such inane oversimplifications and nobody thinks in anything beyond the most elementary patterns. And it all begins with a failure in vocabulary.
The other things that happen are refusal and denial.
People, if they want to take pride in anything attributed to the nation they belong to, are loathe to accept any blame or shame for things attributed as well, call it human nature. Nothing is ever "their" fault because anything negative simply never happened "that way" and it is always because of what the other country did (never mind that countries aren't characters that get up at 6 and eat breakfast at 9 and so on). In the case of denial, people just deny that anything is wrong because that would force them to admit that the very way they have thought and looked at the world is deeply, deeply flawed.
The same people who puff themselves up and take so much pride of, let's say "their" military will turn around and refuse responsibility. If they're confronted about historical treachery or something like their government sponsoring a military coupe or the bombing of civilian targets by "their" military, they'll say I had nothing to do with it. It happened half-way around the world from me." Or you'll hear this one "I wasn't even alive then, how can they blame me for that?" if told they should be pay reparations for slavery or colonization in the past. And in those instances they'd be right, it's just once things are positive then they're on the bandwagon.
Feel whatever you want to feel but there's no reason to feel offended that someone else thinks beyond the pale upon the same matter.
