On being really proud of one’s country for the first time in one’s adult life
CityBeat editor David Rolland’s editorial this week about his ambivalence toward patriotism was also a defense of Michelle Obama’s statement that, “for the first time in my adult lifetime, I’m really proud of my country.”
I agree with David’s defense. I have been thinking about this since Michelle Obama’s speech, and I want to point out another thing: It is that the small words in the quotation matter, too, but they don’t get talked about all that much. In this case, the focus has mainly been on the phrases “first time” and “proud of my country.” And, to a limited extent, there has been some discussion of “adult life,” mostly by defenders pointing out that during her adult life, there have been a lot of reasons to be less than proud of the U.S., as David points out. But another interesting word in the sentence is “really.” In the Obama quotation, the word “really” can have two different meanings: the first meaning is “actually” and the second is “very.” Most critics have interpreted the statement as if “really” meant actually, i.e. “For the first time… I am actually proud of my country.” But “really” can also be what we used to call when I was an English teacher an “intensifier.” That changes the meaning of the statement: “For the first time… I am very proud of my country.” I think Michelle Obama meant the latter: she has been proud in the past but now she is even prouder.
nice analysis!