Telling someone “I’m proud of you” is nice.
But there’s an argument to be made (and plenty of people have made it) that this statement carries with it the implication that you’re taking some of the credit for their accomplishment. I see the point, even if it’s a bit semantically nit-picky.
So how can you express that feeling towards someone without any subconscious thunder-stealing? Some experts suggest saying, “you must be so proud of yourself.” Not bad. But to me, that severs the connection between you, them and whatever they’ve achieved.
The feeling of pride when someone you love does something awesome comes from that wonderful sense of shared buoyancy. Their rising tide has carried your relationship with it. You aren’t proud of them so much as you’re overwhelmed by the privilege of seeing them achieve what you’ve always known they deserve.
So what do we tell those people who fill us with that pride? I’m so lucky to know you? You make me so grateful? It’s so amazing to watch you do what you do?
Words, as is often the case, don’t quite cut it.
But if you know someone who is a VIP to you, whose every action makes you imagine a red carpet unrolling beneath their feet, who doesn’t quite realize how important they are …tell them to listen to the 2004 album Thunder, Lighting, Strike by The Go! Team.
Grab the person you’re proud of, and tell them they make you feel the way this album sounds.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. The lazy, happy harmonica reminds me of the song that used to play over the end credits of Sesame Street.
2. At 1:30, the trumpet plays a fanfare that is, somehow, both grand and quiet at the same time. It’s like the quiet cheers you yell out in your head when someone you love does something great in a context where cheering out loud would be wildly inappropriate.
3. There’s an overarching joy to everything this band does, but most of their tracks are two or three-minute blasts of positive energy. (One reviewer described the songs on the record as seeming to “break through walls with the barreling force of a thousand Kool-Aid men.”) But on this song, the album’s finale, they slow it down and stretch the joy over a full five minutes.
Recommended listening activity:
Giving someone a homemade gold medal.