I think that, luckily, there is not a hero of our time, although there are some concrete villains. The heroism has been democratized. There are heroes everywhere. There are the heroes of physical survival, when there is no water, or food. There are the heroes of emotional survival, under fear, under abuse...

Nowadays there is a new kind of daily hero, the altruistic net hero, the person investing his time to create knowledge and to make it available to everyone, free, in the network. Technical knowledge, poetry, history, literature, how to replace your phone screen, subtitles, lessons about anything... When I hear that new world and new generations are selfish, I feel there are people doing their best to not discover half the reality.

I am not a very optimistic person, but I try every day to look for proves against my natural trend. It is worth it.

El Ministerio de la Felicidad

Siempre es complicada en español el tema del uso del subjuntivo, en situaciones de posibilidad y no de descripción de una realidad presente. Así, en (1), tienes la estructura "puede ser que ... sea", o "tal vez... sea", o "en el caso de que... sea". También con el deseo o con las órdenes, que no se refieren a lo que se hace, sino a lo que se manda que se haga, tal y como pasa en (6) "insistir en que se comporte", o "te mando que te acabes la comida", "te ordeno que te calles", "deseo que te encuentres bien". Confieso, sin embargo, que no sé explicar por qué decimos (5) "Cuando llegue ese día", y en cambio no usamos el presente de subjuntivo con "Si": "Si llega el día, si vienes a verme, si te encuentras bien"... Tendré que estudiar las reglas de mi lengua.

(2) "la causa grande" suena raro. Quizás ""una gran causa de nuestra época" o "la mayor causa de nuestra época".

(3) Dos opciones: "Debo admitirlo, me pone nervioso pensar que..." o bien "Debo admitir que me pone nervioso pensar que..."

(4) Dos opciones: "Me acuerdo de una broma" o "me recuerda una broma".

(5) Aunque no sea tan preciso, el libro de Huxley está publicado en español como "Un mundo feliz"

Siempre valiosos tus escritos, en forma y contenido.

I think there are a lot of interesting subjects in this debate.

To me, the most productive of them is the difference between the things we receive without no intervention, no effort (like to be white or black, woman or man, green or brown eyes, tall or short, born in one or another country...) and the things we have earned, we have built, we have had participations in its emergence or its grown (I hope a lot of them in our lives).

It's only these second kind of things it make sense to be proud or ashamed to. The place we are born its not an accomplishment we have achieve, so it seems at first sight nonsense to be proud of. Of course one can love his country, or being comfortable in, easy, happy, at home, but this is different from pride.

I think, however, that if there are so many people showing their pride, , it has to be an explanation, maybe not a justification.

Maybe we can consider these two ideas:

First. When people are despised because of their country, city, skin or sexual orientation, even if they are not responsible for them, and most of cities and countries have been despised across their history, maybe we can understand pride a a result.

Second. Pride of the country is linked with the feeling of belonging to a collectivity. So, people appropriates the achievements, not only present but historical achievements, as a personal sources of pride. This is another subject, but "We", so necessary, is also always eager to eat "you".

  
There are now and then some disputes about some strangers things in Italki, like unbelievable disappearances of some of the most active and estimated people. In spite of everything, many of us are still here, and in debates like this one I can see why. I learn a lot by reading your answers, there are even times when it seems that learning English is not so important. Italki is still worth it because you are. Thank you all.

Thank you all.

Aisyah Putri Mustika, I can undeerstand you. Whem I'm abroad, I feel something special if I find someone from my country, and I feel too something special when I come back, but I think in my case is more a feeling of home, more a tenderness feeling than prid in the way K P has explained.

M.H. Mahdavi Nejad, thank you for your suggestion to read Bhabha.

Thank you, Guyomar. I think the so called big countries have often contributed to progress, but they are often responsible too of the bigger desstructions.