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16 June 2005

On pride, briefly

On pride.
Pride can be many things, but, in my opinion, certain ruough categories can be established.

An arrogant person displays pride in his or her personal achievements, boasting to others about their success and making it known to anyone who gives a damn that they did something well and should receive praise for it.
A person lacking pride does not display to the world that they have done anything worthwhile, and often attempt to downplay, even sabotage, any attempt to praise them for their accomplishments.

Both extremes can bear negative fruit, in their own way.
The arrogant person, when confronted with the suggestion that their accomplishment may not in fact be the pinnacle of excellence they thought it to be, will often argue the opposite. To protect the idea of finality and perfection they see in their accomplishment, fully convinced that they are correct, they rigidly stand behind their statement, wavering not, even in the face of superior logic, or when presented with facts proving that their accomplishment is indeed flawed, in some way.
I will argue that the arrogant person has shackled himself to a particular statement, and, rather than losing face, will not even entertain the notion that there may be a different way, an alternate approach, a new concept, and fail to realize the opportunity to learn something new.

The person lacking pride, on the other hand, will have already examined their accomplishment, found it lacking perfection, even worth, and will have already begun listing the things they see wrong with it before the task is even completed.
In my opinion, this person shackles themselves to failure even before a task is begun, thus making any progress or improvement virtually pointless, robbing the accomplishment of its value before the value has even been determined.

In the end, both die. It’s true. I read it in a pamphlet this one homeless guy gave to me while I was jogging. It was smeared with mustard, and one corner was torn, but the message was clear enough. The day before that, I had seen him vomiting near a large family gathering, and later scouring the beach, near a bunch of frat boys, for beer cans to turn in for money.

After studying the Tao Te Ching for about five years now, I am opined that the person who finds the middle ground between these two extremes is best off. That person does not take unreasonable pride in his accomplishments, but, when they are done, says they are done, and, without ado, sets his sights on the next task.
At the same time, he is aware of the fact that, in the eyes of others, his accomplishments may mean nothing, that from a different point of view, his very existence may be seen as a waste of time. Without investing emotion or too much time into the qualitative review of the completed task, the middle-ground person pursues a previously determined course of action, taking a sense of completion from the accomplishment. That person knows that so many people and factors had to occur, had to align, at that very moment in time, to allow the task to be done, so he does not directly seek praise, but takes responsibility for what was done, turns and walks away.
Quality is so hard to nail down, so hard to quantify. Damn.

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