Are you proud of your country? I’m not. I don’t even understand why I should be… just because I was born here? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not hating on Canada or anything, it’s a pretty rad place to live all things considered, but, I mean, a country isn’t even a real thing. It’s a group of people within some lines on a map, a government, and a military. To be proud of my country means that I have to believe it’s better then any other. It’s a method of division, of keeping people divided from one another. It’s as dumb as being proud when the sports team that happens to have your cities name on their jersey wins a game.

And then before you know it, the people inside my lines on the map are fighting with the people inside their lines on the map, because everyone is so fucking proud of their country or their religion that they can’t ever compromise or admit they’ve made a mistake. I know a lot of us canadians like to joke about how we’re just a little bit better then americans, but it’s not really a joke. We actually think that. I know I do sometimes. Or at least I used to. I thought that because of a few choices our government has made, we are better people then they are.

I’m not saying pride is always a bad thing. The people who wrote the american constitution had something to be proud of. They did something new and revolutionary (for their time). But does that mean that people living in America today should still be proud of something that was done by people who died before they were even born? I don’t think so. I think, rather then clinging to their country’s great accomplishments of the past, they should continue to accomplish great things (or at least be trying for fucks sakes). It’s like the founding fathers pointed people in a direction of freedom, and the people just stood there, feeling proud, instead of continuing the work and moving forward (well, ok, we have moved forward since then, a great deal, actually, but much too slowly, in my opinion). Because let’s not kid ourselves. People today are not free. Forget about the terrible wars and famines and dictatorships across the planet. We, here in North America, are not free. If we don’t submit ourselves to labour in order to earn a wage, we are unable to live.

Sorry, I kind of got off on a tangent there… my point is that blind pride isn’t much better then blind faith. It’s a distortion. I’ve been asked a couple times if I’m proud of being gay. And I say no. I’m not ashamed of it, but I don’t know why I should be proud. It’s not something I chose or accomplished (like say… coming out, that is something I’m proud of). But being gay? It’s a roll of the dice… just like the country I was born in, the religion of my parents, my gender, my hair color, my skin color, my mental capacity, my physical abilities… That’s why I don’t get gay pride, or feminism, or whatever other rights groups there are. Everybody deserves rights. Imagine if all these separate rights and advocacy groups got together, and demanded equal rights for every human across the planet. That is something I’d be a part of. Focusing in on one specific issue is, again, divisionary. It encourages the idea that these groups of people are somehow separate from everyone else. We should celebrate the things that make us unique. These differences are the one thing that unify us, that make us all the same. It’s the mechanism behind ‘pride’ specifically that often makes people feel morally superior to one another. Which isn’t something to be proud of.

So go out and create something you think is beautiful. Do something nice for somebody. Do something nice for yourself. Forgive someone. Help someone. Actually go and DO something good, and then feel proud of yourself, because you’ll actually have earned it.