Pride and prejudice
Pride and prejudice
Finnish people are quiet, solemn, and shy. Well. Some of us might be, some of us aren’t, we just show our warmth in our own way. But we are proud.
Pride probably isn’t the first word that comes to mind when you think of Finns, not even one of the top ten words, but it’s still true. Maybe it’s not as well known, or it’s just a fact that people don’t pay much attention, since polar bears are far more interesting, naturally.
Finnish pride is quite strong. As a nation, we are small, and spread far apart, with a country the size of New Mexico, roughly, but the population of both Los Angeles CA and San Antonio TX combined. And because there are not that many of us, whenever a Finlander succeeds out the in the big world, or Finland is even mentioned in any way, we are extremely proud of them, and it.
Here’s a few examples:
- Formula One. Finns are taught to drive in extreme circumstances, snow, ice, rain, sand, open fields of farmed goods, and we are great drivers. And we are proud of this, and super proud of the Finnish Formula One drivers that even win the World Championships. Like Mika Häkkinen, Kimi Räikkönen, Keke Rosberg, and others we assume are on the top of the charts. We make songs of our Champions and remember them fondly when we watch the current seasons of the races.
- Our freedom. We won it against an enemy ten times our size and we were armed with only knives and Molotov Cocktails, fueled by Finnish Koskenkorva (alcohol) and Sisu (not the brand of salmiakki candy, but the stoic determination). That’s at least how some of us remember it.
- Our education. We have one of the best education systems in the world, and its free even at the university level. Usually you even get paid to go to school here.
- 1995 Hockey World Championship. Huge deal, and everyone who was at least a teenager when this was won, remembers it somehow. We beat Sweden in the finals, which makes it even better. Then we stole the song Sweden made for themselves.
Other things Finns are very proud of:
- Fresh clean water. We have it, don’t you try and take it from us. It runs free in our free forests. You can’t have those either. And we can drink our water straight from the tap.
- We have Santa. No we’re not holding him hostage, Santa Claus actually lives in Rovaniemi, Finland. The whole thing with the North Pole is just a fairy tale.
- Also very clean air. So cold it hurts our faces sometimes in the winter, but clean.
- Sauna! Not just for old people or perverts. Somewhere it said we have more saunas in Finland than we have cars. And yes, you have to be naked.
- Finland was the third country in the world, and the first in Europe, to give women the right to vote. We also are very proud of our other equal human rights. And Finland is one of the best countries in the world to become a mother, as you can read here.
— Editors
The writer of this story is a member of the Mom of Finland community.
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