121 – To Have Pride - a podcast by Alf Herigstad

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TO HAVE PRIDE…
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Alright…so today I will be talking about a particularly complex concept.  This topic was suggested by a new listener named Mitch.  If you want to be like Mitch and send me your own topic suggestions just go to the website and find the http://www.beingabettermanpodcast.com/contact-alf/ (CONTACT ALF) button and send me a letter.  Today, thanks to Mitch, we will be discussing pride.I said pride was a complex issue…and it really is.  The definition of pride varies widely.  It is an inward directed emotion that is altogether separate from happiness or joy.  It seems that pride has a good side, and a dark side when you approach it from the english language, and I suspect from others as well.I never felt that pride was a negative myself.  To me pride was always a positive word for some reason.  Growing up I was proud of my family and my home.  If I got a good grade at school or did something awesome on the little league field, I was proud of my accomplishments, and it felt good.
Then I was surprised to discover that pride is also considered a sin in some religious circles…Apparently that is even what got the devil kicked out of heaven.  That creates quite a dichotomy in a young boys mind.  I wondered how pride…the act of being proud, could ever be construed as something bad.Turns out, there is another word…hubris.  Hubris really encapsulates everything that is supposedly wrong with pride. It is the foolish and irrationally corrupt and inaccurate sense of one’s personal value, status or accomplishments. 
Ok, we have all known someone like that who exhibits hubris, and may have even been guilty of it ourselves on occasion.  The way I interpret it, when pride gets out of hand, when it transcends reality and leads to someone thinking more of them selves than they should…pride turns into hubris, and thats bad.Lets forget about hubris for a minute and talk about the good part of pride.  I think pride is an extremely useful emotion.  I think it builds confidence in people.  I think it facilitates personal growth.  I think pride makes people less fearful to try new things and courageously go forward into unknown situations, and thereby expand their potential as human beings.  In doing all of that pride feeds your self esteem and galvanizes your personal identity.  Those are all good things right?
I think pride is severely lacking in our society today.  Most people seem to be ok with being proud of things outside of themselves, but they seem to be afraid to express pride in themselves. I think there are several reasons for this.  People who are proud of themselves and their accomplishments or attributes are often criticized wrongly, for being arrogant and boastful.  Children are often admonished for “showing off”, there seems to be a sense that if one person feels great about themselves that it will make other people who aren’t them, feel worse about themselves. Thats why some schools no longer give out grades, because they don’t want to hurt anyones feelings with a bad mark.  Thats why kids get participation trophies just for showing up.  In some school sporting events I have witnessed, they don’t even keep score…can you believe that?  There are no winners or losers and everybody is the same.  Personally…I think that is complete garbage!
It’s not preparing a child well for life.  Because lets face it…people are not all the same.  There are winners and losers in life and we need to know how to deal with both scenarios.  How...

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