An Essay at Pride
I met a man in town yesterday. He was thin and gaunt, and had the feeling of a soldier just returned from a long battle that couldn't really be called a victory, but he didn't want to call a defeat. He appeared to be just a bit passed his middle ages, but his eyes and body language spoke of centuries of weariness that comes from living. He was dressed only a bit more shabbily than most people and one could have easily just passed him by and dismissed him as another face on the street. But then, as I sat on the steps, watching everyone pass me by, trying to imagine the things that made them keep going, or the things that still held them here, he talked to me. First it was just about where he could sell some old sheet music, if I had a cigarette he could buy off of me, then there was an awkward silence. He broke it, asking me a question that must have forced him to swallow almost all of his pride. It was a simple question, but for this man, it was more, "Do you know anywhere I could get a job in construction around here?" he asked me. In this one question he admitted defeat to the harsh world and begged for assistance. At this, his stature, which should have been that of some celtic warrior, who would rather die protecting that which he loved than to surrender, crumpled. While his face still held that itense uncompromising look, it was obvious that this question cost him something that can't be bought, sold, given or taken, only made.
Pride is one of those parts of human nature that we are told is both a sin, and a requirment for actual living. It is a metaphorical double edged sword, which like the scaffolds on a construction site, hold you up, but brittle, fragile, and dangerous when it breaks. The question then is, how do we balance pride and humility. Too much pride holds you up too far, and when you fall, there is nothing to catch you. But if you have no pride in anything, playing it safe, then it becomes incredibly difficult to motivate yourself to accomplish anything, or aim any higher than the bare necessities of living. The key as I see it is to keep a moderate quantity of both. Feel pride for your accomplishments, strive to do better, but then when you fail, don't cling to your stiff rigid pride, for it will snap under your weight. Instead, humbly learn the lessons offered to you by the situation you are in, get up, dust off your knees and start again.
Pride is one of those parts of human nature that we are told is both a sin, and a requirment for actual living. It is a metaphorical double edged sword, which like the scaffolds on a construction site, hold you up, but brittle, fragile, and dangerous when it breaks. The question then is, how do we balance pride and humility. Too much pride holds you up too far, and when you fall, there is nothing to catch you. But if you have no pride in anything, playing it safe, then it becomes incredibly difficult to motivate yourself to accomplish anything, or aim any higher than the bare necessities of living. The key as I see it is to keep a moderate quantity of both. Feel pride for your accomplishments, strive to do better, but then when you fail, don't cling to your stiff rigid pride, for it will snap under your weight. Instead, humbly learn the lessons offered to you by the situation you are in, get up, dust off your knees and start again.