Hispanity day or why I don't feel Spanish

If more people visited this blog or I wrote in Spanish I would be expecting lots of negative comments in here, luckily none of the previous statements are true.

Today is the Hispanity day, something that is supposed to commemorate the day Columbus got to America and the "hispanity" of Spanish speaking countries, or something like this. Furthermore is "el Pilar" in Zaragoza.

This month a man in a die-hard pro-Spanish TV channel said "Catalonia is Spain! If they don't feel Spanish that's another thing! Madhouses are full of people who feel they're Napoleon and that's why they're in madhouses!". First this is disrespectful for anyone with a mental illness, it's a last century view and it's not helping people who is fighting against this to get integrated in the society. Second, he feels Spanish right? Why should everyone feel as him? Everyone has the right to chose.

I'm one of this people who don't feel Spanish. Why is that? First of all, I was born in a Catalan family, I don't mean a die-hard Catalan family or anything, just a family where everyone is Catalan. I was taught in Catalan, I speak in Catalan and I feel the Catalan traditions (not like I'm going to take part in Castellers or anything, but I like Catalan traditions). Spain is just not part of my background, but rather it was introduced afterwards because I had to learn Spanish at school. But I don't have the feeling of being Spanish. And yes, I'm kinda pro-independence, but not because I want to mess with Spain, but because I want the best for my country and this country is Catalonia.

I get that lots of you might not understand this, maybe you were taught to have a very strong national feeling for your country whichever it is (States, Canada, Netherlands, Germany,...), and you just cannot understand why someone can't feel Spanish but from a different region. Maybe you're from some region like Catalonia, that has a culture appart from the country's one. Anyway, imagine this, you live in a place where you do certain things and you speak a certain language and then someone comes and tells you that even if you feel part of this community you've to feel part of another bigger one. You have two options feel it or not. I don't feel Spanish, but I do respect people who is Catalan and feels Spanish, I'm not going to say they are wrong, just that I don't share their views. First I feel Catalan and then I feel European, there is nothing from Spain that I feel represented in.

I had to say all this, I just want people to understand that you cannot force a nationalist feeling on someone, it's something that it's given to you by your upbringing.