We're stuck with each other

There was a post on an internet forum the other day by a chap who was extolling the virtues of his country. Pointing out the inventions that his country had produced over the last two hundred years and the fact that his countrymen were the recipients of the majority of Nobel prizes, this fellow was a tad dumbfounded that anyone not from his country could have been offended. After all, he was 'justifiably proud'.

Human and cultural dignity is not predicated on the accumulation of successes. Every civilisation or group, has had it's share of world offerings, large or small, direct or indirect though they may be. Yet, even here, seeing value through the lens of this kind of 'success' is to put the cart before the horse. To be able to not think "I'm glad I don't live there" in front of someone, I think, is a far more personable measure of worth.

As they say, better to step back and learn to say hello to the other man, rather than to enforce a smile and walk right into him.

(By the way, this is not a post about my country or your country or his country or her country or their country or our country. It's a post about human connections.)