Prideology

Here we go again, yes ANOTHER new word. I’m trying to decide if I’m ever going to use a “standard” word again for my article topic. It’s an interesting and thought provoking action coming up with alternative words to describe my article of the day. What do you guys think, do you like it or not? Unless you answer no in the comments or don’t comment at all, I will take the answer as being yes, that you do like it. That’s how my website’s version of democracy works. If you don’t speak up, your vote doesn’t count. Well, just like that, a future article idea just popped up. Maybe you’ll see it tomorrow, about voting. We are due for another Political Beef anyway I think. Enough with the chit chat, let’s get on with this article. Prideology. How many ways can I slice this particular subject? It is a pretty hairy one is it not?

As I sit here, I can admit that I have pride in many things. It’s pretty simple really. Human nature revolves around pride almost as much as it does around being a social being. Actually, these two “natures” go hand in hand the majority of the time. Can you admit to me that you also have pride in certain things in your life? I’ll bet good money we ALL are prideful in many ways. Some extreme, some not so much, and some, deep down at the root, pride exists. Is pride a bad thing? We have pride in our children’s accomplishment. Is that bad? We have pride in the fact that we are good people and do our best to help society. Is that bad? We have pride that we give our all at whatever it is that we do. Is that bad? Can’t pride be good sometimes?

It may be a little hard to grasp, but the answer is truly no. Pride is never good. You may be asking why? What does having pride do which causes it to be bad? Having pride from your children isn’t hurting anyone right? Depends on what you consider to be harmful. The number one thing pride leads to in ANY situation is a person telling someone else just how proud they are of whatever example you would like to throw in here. Yes, you are proud of your son or daughter and you will of course tell your neighbors how much you are. Yes, you will talk to people who see the picture of them on your desk how proud you are of them and their accomplishments. You are telling people. You are feeding the prideful desires of your heart when doing so. It can be something as simple as mowing your lawn. You are proud of how your lawn looks. It’s the best lawn on the street. YOU did it. You are PROUD of it. EVERYONE can see just how well you manicure your lawn and it makes you feel good.

There it is. Pride makes you feel good about yourself. Pride feeds this insatiable desire to feel good about you, the individual, because it leads to acceptance within society. Or so we think, that is. We believe that if people look to us in such a manner that we receive pride from it, that means we are doing something well. We deserve it right? We’ve earned it right? We raised our kids to be good people. We earned the right to be proud of it. We received a college diploma. We have a right to be proud of that because it’s hard work to accomplish. We have pride in the fact that we volunteer our time for the well being of our community. That’s very hard work and we should be recognized right? No, it’s not right. I’m not saying I’m any different. I’m as prideful as the rest of humanity by nature. However, I try to recognize pride in my life and disallow it’s intrusion into my heart because I know where pride leads to.

Pride leads to one place, loneliness. If you allow pride to enter your life and feed the desires of acceptance and worth, you will find yourself lonely in the end. Prideful people “need” others to know about their sources of pride. They continually tell people of their accomplishments. They make sure their neighbors know they are the best. They make sure their family knows they are the key to the success of the family. They make sure everyone knows just how important they truly are. They are braggarts. Now, everyone will not fall into this extreme, but I’m sure you know a few of these prideful people in your life. Are they fun to be around? Do they make you feel good? That is very highly unlikely. That is why prideful people are on the path to loneliness. Their insatiable need for acceptance is actually driving people away from them.

Now, most people end up somewhere in the middle. We are prideful, but not to the extreme. We like to have pride in some things and “brag” to others about it and we also allow pride to be internal on others. We like internal pride too, but not nearly as much as outwardly pride. However, internal pride can build up to a point where it also harms your life. You can be filled by so much internal pride, that control enters your life to an extent that you harm your relationships with your family, friends, and co-workers. You are receiving pride from something and you like how it makes you feel so your desire begins to focus on control of the action. Removing others from your relationship to satisfy your desire of pride will lead to emotional and physical loneliness. People do not like being around controllers or manipulators either. Pride is a very destructive “need.”

There is always a constant struggle within us to curtail the desires of pride. We are scared that we will not be accepted. We are scared that other people won’t know how “important” we are. We are scared that society won’t know about all the good things we have done. We are ultimately just scared of being alone. The roots of pride invade everything we do if we allow them to grow. If we choose to battle pride in our lives, people will still accept us as hard as it is to believe. Scary, yes it is. But, if a person accepts you for who you are without all the boastings of what you’ve “accomplished,” will your relationship be stronger than if it were filled with bragging? Of course it will. Relationships grow stronger due to honesty and truth amongst one another, not prideful boastings of our worldly deeds. Step out on the limb, throw pride out the window and be scared. I’ll be right there with you. I would rather be a scared, loved individual with many fruitful relationships than a prideful (and still scared by the way) individual with nobody who truly cares about me. Combat pride in your life and you will see better relationships grow.