Pride as a Virtue

As a writer, you often find yourself in a quagmire when you are to write in defense of certain topics which the society frowns at. Or, how do you write in support of death at the expense of life? You will be a fish out of water while trying to spew words to ascertain your claims and you may be made to look like an idiot in your attempt to explain the rationale behind your claims. Such is the condition I am now.

I want to write about PRIDE. To some adherents of certain thought, pride is a vice and leads to destruction. While to some people especially to me, pride is a virtue that one needs to put on, not always but when necessary.

You will wonder that often when you don’t flaunt what you have, people take you as an under-achiever. While it is good to conceal one’s intentions, it is equally good to make public the products of those intentions when they eventually materialise.

It is not always good to be classless. One must learn to do away with the less privileged. I am not encouraging total ostracizing or building a battalion to shield oneself, but to maintain one’s societal values and uphold the personality one craves, one has to be selective when it comes to mixing with people. Make do of societal stratification in selecting the social class you are to belong.

For the sake of simplicity, I need to let you know that the aspect of pride this article centres on is, choice of friends. The norms of the society should not be trampled on in the name of pride.

 Respect those that deserve respect. If you don’t give to Ceaser what is Ceaser’s, Ceaser may watch you get destroyed while he has the power to see you safe. That is why they say,’pride goes before destruction’. The literary Ceaser(s) are the elders in the society. While you accord the elders; your parents, siblings, those in position of authority and everyone older than you, with respect, learn to first scrutinize people before you call them friends. Anyone that does not pass through your scrutiny should not deserve to be your friend.

Experience has shown that the actions of friends tend to define who we are. Even if you are upright but relate with gamblers, you will be seen as a gambler in the eyes of the world. How many people do you want to speak of your uprightness to when you are seen with gamblers? Also, When you are wealthy (wealth is not only about money) and you relate with poor people (not with the poor), you will be seen as a poor man. Society treats you on the basis of the company you keep. Until you flaunt your wealth, you will be looked down upon. Until you mix with those as wealthy or wealthier than you are, you will be measured with the same tape your poor friends are measured with. It is always preferable when people think you are richer than you are and not them thinking you are poorer than you are.

In the course of doing this, people confuse attitude with pride. One’s character is unique and differs from someone else’s. The behavioural characteristics form the attitude people judge you with. And once your attitude is personalised, they say you are proud. If you can endure the claim of ‘proud’ against you and still go on being selective in your choice of friends, in the long run, you will bask in the abundance of their respect.