The Excessively Proud Person

Don't you hate it when someone is excessively proud about something that he shouldn't be excessively proud about? The first example that comes to mind is when people have excessive pride in their town/state/country. Don't get me wrong here; I'm a full supporter of being proud of one's roots and I respect people who are. I also love and am thankful for the freedoms and liberties provided for me in the United States. I do feel, though, that there is a line that needs not be crossed. For example, I can't just say Ohio sucks because I'm from Pennsylvania. I have no grounds to say that Ohio sucks. The word "sucks" in general is really generic because it isn't really definitive about anything. I'm proud that I'm a resident of the Pittsburgh area, but just because I love where I'm from it doesn't mean that places where other people are from "suck." A more specific example of this is sports teams. I have friends from Ohio and the New England area who are supporters of the Browns and Patriots, respectively. I honestly don't know how many times I've sat around on Sunday afternoons watching NFL games and heard the same argument that consists of, "the Browns suck" followed by, "yeah well the Steelers suck." The entire disagreement usually consists of comments along those lines and has limited substance. I love the Steelers, Penguins, Pirates, and Pittsburgh sports in general, but these discussions get downright ridiculous. It would be different if someone said something along the lines of, "the Detroit Lions are a poorly run organization because of Matt Millen's terrible run as an ineffective general manager." I think that most NFL fans (whether from Detroit or not) would agree with that assessment. That is much more productive than saying, "yeah Detroit sucks!" Another thing that annoys me is the "my child is an honor roll student" bumper sticker. Congratulations...I don't care. You don't need to advertise to the entire world that your child made the honor roll. Yes it is an accomplishment, but people do it every day in every state across the United States. I personally respect somebody more who is modest about his accomplishments than providing an arrogant advertisement. I think that everyone has things that he should be proud of and I don't want to discredit people's accomplishments, but before you run around boasting the accomplishments of you, your hometown, or your kin try not to be the excessively proud person.

Until next time,

Zac