LevAryeh: that is EXACTLY what I was thinking. I just didn’t have time to write it.
Why should someone who isn’t affiliated be proud to be Jewish? Why be proud of something you demonstrate that you couldn’t care less about?
The ONLY thing I can think of is what you mentioned about accomplishments. It’s like when an alumnus/a of your school from ten years ago goes on to do something famous and every time you hear their name, you’re like, “Wow! That’s so cool! I KNOW that person!” even though you two never met in your lives. You just went to the same school ten years ago, but the school is a community you identify yourself with so that you identify with other members of the community. But I think that’s coming at it from the wrong angle. First you need to establish the connection, the feeling that it’s important that I’m Jewish just like he is. If Judaism isn’t an important part of your life in the first place, why would I care about or identify with someone who’s Jewish?
So the first step would seem to be to get the people to identify with being Jewish. But how do you do that? By making them proud to be Jewish. And so the cycle continues.
But either way, nfgo3, I so agree with you, happens to be.