Proud to be proud of my pride

Cmass · Post by **Cmass** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 8:53 pm

This came to me today as I saw various bumper stickers and signs along the road:

Is pride a good thing or a bad thing? Is good or bad pride conditional on what it is you are proud of or is pride always OK or not OK? If it is conditional, then who decides the condition? You? God? Society?
Is it even possible to be proud of something you have no control over?
Please think about these statements:
"I'm proud of my left foot"
"I'm proud of my country"
"I'm proud of my child"
"I'm proud of my skin color"
"I'm proud of my religion"
"I'm proud of my aunt Betty for her fight against cancer"
"I'm proud of my president"
"I'm proud of our troops"
"I'm proud of my business"
"I'm proud of Jesus"
"I'm proud of my efforts"
"I'm proud of your efforts"
"I'm proud of my accomplishments"
"I'm proud of my leadership skills"
"I'm proud of my wife/husband/partner/lover"
"I'm proud to be gay"
"I'm proud to be hetero-sexual"
"I'm proud to monogamous"
"I'm proud to be polyamorous"
"I'm proud of the thread I just posted"
"I'm proud of the answer I just gave to this nutcase's thread"

Please comment on this from a biblical as well as personal perspective. As many may know, I really don't like endless strings of quotes from scripture unless it is in support of your own thinking.

achilles12604 · Post by **achilles12604** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 10:36 pm

Question to anyone. . . .

Can almost any unkind act be traced bace ultimatly to having to much pride? Which ones can and are there examples of unkind or "evil" actions which are not rooted in to much pride?

Lotan · Post by **Lotan** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 11:03 pm

achilles12604 wrote:Can almost any unkind act be traced bace ultimatly to having to much pride?

I doubt it. My understanding is that negative behavior is usually the result of fear, expressed as anger.

achilles12604 wrote:Which ones can and are there examples of unkind or "evil" actions which are not rooted in to much pride?

How about that guy who killed the Amish kids. Do you think he was proud?

achilles12604 · Post by **achilles12604** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 11:31 pm

Lotan wrote:
achilles12604 wrote:Can almost any unkind act be traced bace ultimatly to having to much pride?
I doubt it. My understanding is that negative behavior is usually the result of fear, expressed as anger.
achilles12604 wrote:Which ones can and are there examples of unkind or "evil" actions which are not rooted in to much pride?
How about that guy who killed the Amish kids. Do you think he was proud?

Lets try some acrobatics.

The man who attacked those kids apparently did so because of a problem he had had decades ago. He was mistreated and was angry. In this case I seriously doubt that fear motivated his anger because why would he be afraid of a bunch of little girls or of someone many years ago. So fear is out.

How about he was angry because he had been mistreated, an opinion based on what he thought he deserved (self-pride - you can't treat me like that. I'm so and so), and then his actions were caused by a desire to cause others to feel his pain and anger. A show of power perhaps. In either case desiring for others to feel your pain could be motivated by pride. The line of thinking would be "If I have to feel this way so should everyone else."

If it was to show how powerful he was, well the pride is self-explanatory there.

Lotan · Post by **Lotan** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 12:00 am

achilles12604 wrote:Lets try some acrobatics.

Let's not.
The man in question was motivated by guilt and shame and was afraid of what those little girls represented. Read the news...

"Authorities believe Roberts was haunted by the death of a newborn daughter, and by memories of molesting two female relatives 20 years before."

Does that really sound like pride to you?

Please don't bother to answer, it's just a rhetorical question anyway. You've already convinced yourself that you know the answer and I can't be bothered to correct you further.

achilles12604 · Post by **achilles12604** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 12:59 am

Lotan wrote:
achilles12604 wrote:Lets try some acrobatics.
Let's not.
The man in question was motivated by guilt and shame and was afraid of what those little girls represented. Read the news...

"Authorities believe Roberts was haunted by the death of a newborn daughter, and by memories of molesting two female relatives 20 years before."

Does that really sound like pride to you?

Please don't bother to answer, it's just a rhetorical question anyway. You've already convinced yourself that you know the answer and I can't be bothered to correct you further.

Touchy. Ok since you requested it I won't debate you on this.

Goat · Post by **Goat** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 9:31 am

achilles12604 wrote:Question to anyone. . . .

Can almost any unkind act be traced bace ultimatly to having to much pride? Which ones can and are there examples of unkind or "evil" actions which are not rooted in to much pride?

No. Many unkind acts can ultimately traced back to the need of POWER, or insecurity in ones self.. (the lack of self pride).

There is a difference between pride, and the declaration of extrodinary self worth that is triggered as a compensation of the feeling of worthlessness.
There also is a difference between EGO, and pride. Ego is insisting you are better than everyone else (often despite evidence to the contrary).

Confused · Post by **Confused** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 10:13 am

achilles12604 wrote:Question to anyone. . . .

Can almost any unkind act be traced bace ultimatly to having to much pride? Which ones can and are there examples of unkind or "evil" actions which are not rooted in to much pride?

I think that some people can do things that may be considered evil or wrong in order to keep that image they see in others eyes when they are glanced at. You know that look, the one that says the person you are looking at is successfull, happy, good looking, and has his life all together. That person feels proud because he see peoples perception of him as so put together and he takes pride in that fact. These are the people who do some horrible things in order to maintain that perception. They judge their self worth as how much pride others see in them, so they will do many things to keep that. In this case, pride is the direct cause of some unkind acts and even some evil actions. But there are many evil things done not in the pursuit of pride. Child molesters don't do their actions out of prides, as a matter of fact, most deplore themselves after the act. Many bad acts are done out of spite and have little to no roots in pride. But pride itself can be a very powerful motivator, not just for bad, but for good as well. It is impossible to say that just because one person has so much pride in themselves, they will eventually do something bad, just as it is impossible to say that one person with no pride in themselves at all wont do something horrible.

While it's a bit off the thread, I think that if you wanted to hold most evil or good deeds up to scrutiny and wanted to find a central contributing factor to each one of them (the proverbial straw that broke the camels back), I think emotions lay as the root of all good and of all evil. People live by their emotions to much and unfortunately, there is no link between emotions and rational thought. So before I blame pride for anything bad, I would blame some idiots inability to control their emotions first.