Two weeks ago while at a soccer match in Houston, the woman beside me said she was in London last year and "the Olympics will be a mess", or at least that was a polite paraphrase. It had been clear from my pink freckled skin and my lack of enthusiasm for using the word "awesome" that I was from elsewhere. Asking me if I was a Brit, the woman then shared her expectation of the British ability to deliver . I muttered quietly, and it has to be said not with great confidence, that it will be good. I wish that I had been beside my American friend watching television on Friday. With virtually the whole nation, I was amazed, amused and filled with awe at British creativity and achievement. My own whingeing about tickets and our failings as a nation were simply superseded by the delight of history, spectacle and a parachuting monarch. I was proud to be British. Yet pride can be a difficult thing.
早上好。兩周前，在休斯敦的一場足球賽上，我旁邊一位女士說，她去年到過倫敦，“倫敦奧運會將是一塌糊涂”，或者可以這樣委婉地解釋。從我長有雀斑的粉色膚色和很少用“酷斃了”這個詞，可以明確判斷我非英國人。那女士問了我是否是英國人，然后和我分享了她對英國遞送能力的期許。我喃喃自語，這不得不說缺少強大信心，但是會好的。我真希望周五那天，和我的美國朋友一起看的電視。事實上，我對英國整個民族的創造力和成就，感到驚奇、愉悅和敬畏。我對無門票的牢騷和對失敗國家的抱怨，立刻被厚重的歷史、精彩絕倫的表演和跳傘女王帶來的愉悅代替。我身為英國人，很驕傲。然而驕傲會是個艱難事。
The early church theologian, St Augustine, said that it was "pride that changed angels into devils. It is humility that makes men as angels". Certain types of pride can lead to unhealthy nationalistic fervor, arrogance and even aggression. But pride is a complex thing, often expressing itself differently in different cultures and genders. Jane Austin famously distinguished between pride and vanity, suggesting, "Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity, to what we would have others think of us". It seems to me that pride is healthy if woven with modesty, self deprecating humour and an honesty that sometimes we don't get it right. Perhaps most importantly it is the attitude that does not grasp selfishly at power and status but shares its gifts with all.
早期的基督教神學家奧古斯丁曾說過，“驕傲使天使墮落為惡魔，謙虛使凡人成為天使”。某些驕傲會引起危險的民族主義狂熱、傲慢自大、甚至挑釁攻擊。然而驕傲很復雜，不同的文化，不同的性別對其表述不一。簡•奧斯汀對驕傲和虛榮有過極好地區分，她說，”驕傲更多的是我們對自己的評價；虛榮，則是期望別人對自己的評價“。在我看來，如果驕傲和謙虛、自嘲、誠實并存，那么驕傲是可取的，但有時我們很難做到。也許最重要的是態度，有那種無私放棄權利和地位，與眾人分享自己天賦的態度。
At the heart of the opening ceremony, pride was earthed by the message that this is for everyone, symbolised supremely by the stepping aside of the great Olympians to allow young people to light the flame. This comes not from vanity but confidence. Former President Jimmy Carter picked up on this confidence when he commented, "A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It's a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity." So in all that is to come I want to take pride in my nation, my family, others and even myself in a way that names and celebrates that which is good, while still refusing to use the word awesome.
在開幕式間，驕傲被這一切屬于大家這一信息掩埋，年輕人取代偉大的奧運會選手點亮奧運圣火，便是最高的象征。這不是虛榮，而是自信。美國前總統吉米•卡特評論這一現象時，他重拾這種信心，他說，”一個強大的國家，猶如一個強大的人，能溫文爾雅、堅定不移、深思熟慮、自我克制和樂于助人。一個軟弱的國家，猶如一個軟弱的人，必須咆哮怒嚎、自我吹噓、輕率魯莽和做些其它顯示出不安的事情”。因此，我對自己國家感到驕傲，對自己家庭感到驕傲，對他人感到驕傲，甚至對自己命名和慶祝美好事物的方式感到驕傲，盡管仍舊拒絕使用“酷斃了”這個詞。
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