pride
pride
A topic of multiple persona’s. Pride can be of boist as well as humble nature, possibly even at the exact same time. For instance: A person is great at baseball, that person would come to us and say something like “I am great at baseball”. Even in the small crowd of you and I, this person could inevitably offend one of us. I am not great at baseball and would likely congratulate him/her. You may be good at baseball and feel as though the statement was one of cutting nature. Even more so If you two are personally aware of each other and one could assume that the other should have or did know better… To me pride is an emotion/thought/persona of great parity. As a child I was great at soccer. After scoring 7 goals in one game I went to 3rd grade class the next day to tell everyone how great I did. At that grand event where I was to prove my worth… As you could guess I was met with opposition. I found out that day that some consider outspoken pride to be similar if not the same as being conceded or “cocky”.
What a letdown. At that point I did learn the lesson, I was not going to make friends by convincing them that I am worthy. The truth is that I was being conceded. The very nature of attempting to impress others through self spoken words of lofty nature… that is “cocky” and demeaning. Unless you or I are fully aware of the listeners total abilities or experience than how can anyone make a comparative expression with a straight face. Lets not forget that the comparative nature is not of intent but rather the receivers perception. When you boist, you are at the mercy of the receivers perception. Be careful! Could you imagine walking into someones house, telling them “I caught a 9 pound fish yesterday”, walking away thinking you impressed the host, then find out later that he/she has caught 5 different 10 pound fish? I can only imagine because I again have made the prideful mistake more than once. I have eaten those words more times that I can count. As an adult even, with prideful boist behind me, I still find myself crafting my words to improper avail that I regret after. I work everyday to remove the offending phrases from my vocabulary. I continue to work to make myself meek in boistful pride and grand in unspoken pride in myself. If I am truly proud of what or who I am then no words require speaking. I do not require validation for personal acceptance any longer, and prefer to not offend others in casual conversation that distracts from my personal desires to please my listener instead of challenge.
Assume capabilities are universal. Pre state in your mind to not use words/phrases/verbiage that will leave the listener wondering if they measure up. None of us actually want to break others down to build ourselves up. Even the worst example you can think of, is likely doing it by accident and without intent. A mere side effect of lacking self awareness. However at the same time, we as listeners and responders should remain aware that the fall from perfection is inevitable, and very common when dealing with a sensitive topic such as pride. Be kind.