I would never be proud of my heritage

I would never be proud of my heritage. As a Lithuanian, I can admit that our nation has a history of ostracism, discrimination, and sometimes outright hateful behavior towards minority groups such as Jews, Poles, and Romani people. I’m not proud of our history of persecution and violence. Instead, I acknowledge that we have had our dark moments and should learn from them instead of making ourselves look better in comparison to our neighbors.<br><br>My mantra is to be proud of who you are today, and who you could be tomorrow, not of where you came from.