By: Warren Cheng
Am I proud of being Chinese?
Well, I'm proud of my ability to speak the Chinese language. However,
I sometimes wonder why I am celebrating Moon Festival or Chinese
New Year. Probably the only reason I go along with it is because
I don't want to hurt my family and/or friends' feelings. I'm not
exactly forcing myself to do this. It's kind of like lying to
a fat person and telling them, "No, you're not fat." I mean no
disrespect to the Chinese culture. The traditions just don't mean
anything to me. That's why I see no reason to celebrate it.
I am in between pride
and shame, and I think that is a good thing; too much of either
one can be a bad thing. Being ashamed is pretty much self-explanatory.
As for pride, pride is a good thing. Being proud of who you are
is a good thing, but is there such a thing as too much
pride? I see a lot of this happening at school. The fine line
between pride and racism is blurred when "we're so cool" suddenly
changes to "we're the best." A clear example of this is a song
I heard about two years ago. That song was called "Asian Pride,"
but after hearing it, I think it's more racism than pride. Being
proud is one thing. Thinking you're better than others is something
else.
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