Pride

Pride can be a good thing, and can help you do the right thing and do it well.  However pride can also become a hindrance in our journey through life and halt the progress we work so hard for. I for one believe that the right kind of pride is helpful and taking pride in who you are and what you are doing is important.  When we take pride in whatever work we are doing it means we take it seriously and we want to do the best job at it that we can. Can you imagine a woodworkers projects when they didn’t take pride in what they were doing? Chances are things would not be as nice as they could.  If the woodworker was just getting through a project to finish it and didn’t take pride in the end result there is a good chance seams won’t line up, the finish won’t look as nice and there are just going to be some flaws that could have been avoided. Now if they take pride in their work, they will not be satisfied until it is as close to perfect as they can get it in the time they allow themselves.  Now that’s a product someone wants to buy, not the project that is finished just to finish it.

When we have a healthy pride in ourselves and the work we do it is good for us and can definitely help us in life.  However, when pride goes too far, or pride turns into something that we feel sets us above other people around us, then it becomes a problem. That kind of pride will stop growth and development, it will break relationships, and it will just make us a person that others do not want to be around.  It truly is a mistake to think that any of us are better than anyone else. We are all equal, we are all born and take our first lungful of air as equals on this earth and not one of us is better than anyone else.  People make decisions in life, which drives consequences either positive or negative. That’s what sets us apart from each other is the decisions we make, but no one is better than anyone else. Just because you can do something better than someone else or have a skill they don’t have does not make you better or more important than them.  We are all equals and deserving of the same respect.

If we can all keep that in mind and not let ourselves feel better than anyone around us we can keep that pride in the healthy zone, the zone that helps us and makes us a better person.  If anything, I want to see more of us find pride in how we treat the people around us, how we love our neighbors and take care of people. That is something to feel pride over. Remember, we all came into this world as equals, and someday we will all leave this world as equals so let’s do our best to live it out while we are here.