PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

Inspiration from a neat blog, http://oneminutewriter.blogspot.com/, prompts my daily 'writing assignment' on my other blog. But my response to yesterday's "What is your greatest source of pride?" is a little bit more complicated, so I am going to expand on it here.

Pride, according to Encarta dictionary, is 1) satisfaction with self, 2) proper sense of own value, and 3) feeling of superiority.

And the number of the day today is . . . . number three!


I'm amazed how many times I find myself bragging. When I am pointing out how stupid/ uneducated/ boring someone else is, I am boasting indirectly about how I am not as stupid/ uneducated/ boring as they are since I obviously can see it in them.

An old adage is what bothers us most in other people's behavior is what, consciously or unconsciously, we also hate in ourselves. For example, if someone is talking about you behind your back, you may begin talking about them behind their back - if you feel someone has snubbed you, you will snub them - etc. etc. etc.

So we don't prove we are better, we just stoop to their level to get back at them.

I used to brag insistently about my horse. And I do adore him, and take a great deal of joy in his simple existence and the companionship we share.

But suddenly I realized that when I am talking about Najale to people outside of my family they are hearing and feeling "Wow, I have a horse, and you don't."

I am fond of pointing out that you cannot control anyone else's reactions or emotions, only your own. And I definitely do NOT want other people to feel any sort of "na na na na" (is there any way to write this out musically so you know what tune I am referring to?).

But people do feel this. And while I cannot control or change this, I do not have to keep dropping Najale's name and/or his species into casual conversation with the grocery store cashier and people at church. I do not have to refer to him when I am with anyone who MIGHT be offended or feel I am bragging or just a little tiny person with no emotional control at ALL.

At least for this morning.