Pride: Justified or not?

Pride is an emotion we should feel because of choices that we deliberately make, not because of our accidental state of being. We often feel pride when what we should feel is gratitude. Eg, we should feel pride when we do something to try to benefit our country; we should feel gratitude that we are citizens of the U.S. A person should be grateful if they are talented in some way; pride is only appropriate if they try to do use their talents in a positive way. We might admire some of our ancestors, but pride is inappropriate. The desire to feel pride when we have expended no effort is a manifestation of our desire to get something for nothing - perfectly normal, but hardly admirable!