The Bible defines Pride as an excessive view of one’s self without regard for others. Humility cures pride by removing one’s ego and boastfulness therefore allowing the attitude of service.
I do not agree with the Biblical definition of pride, but I feel the following quote by Ezra Taft Benson is more of an accurate definition.
“Pride is concerned with who is right. Humility is concerned with what is right.”
Ezra Taft Benson
CELEBRATING PRIDE MONTH
Based on this definition I am of the opinion that America is either schizophrenic or the ultimate oxymoron! In my opinion, the reason we are so off the rails from what our Founding Fathers envisioned for America is in great part, due to ignorance and arrogance, not pride. We have been fed a narrative that we as Americans are superior to other people and America to other nations. Yes, I believe America to be the best nation in the world because I have traveled to other countries and frankly, never found another country I would trade this country for. However, we have a naivety due to a period of isolation in our history and the great innovation that has occurred here because of a free market system. As a result, we have been, for the most part, an affluent nation that has experienced very little kinetic conflict on our soil. Also, we have been propagandized to believe that our God and our political and moral system are superior to other nations. While other countries murder their leaders, enslave their people, and maraud other countries, we have been led to believe we as a God-fearing, moral nation are above that. Boy, is that a load of phooey or what? We may have become a powerful and wealthy nation but our moral high ground is more myth than truth. We have initiated and carried out coups and murdered leaders and innocent people all in the name of freedom and democracy. We have engaged in equally horrific deeds in the name of God and Christianity but I doubt Jesus intended us to “spread that message”!
THE AMERICAN WAY
I am as Lee Greenwood would say, proud to be an American but our sovereignty should end at our border. Every country should want and enforce sovereignty in each of their countries but no one, not even America should be forcing their culture or politics on any other country. In my not-so-humble opinion, every country should protect their culture and values but no one should be able to go in and force another country to forfeit their values and culture for theirs’. I also believe that the same should be true of religion. We as Americans are predominately Christian but that does not mean we should go into other countries and force our religion on their people. Religion is usually the foundation of a country’s cultural and political ideology. Entire societies are built on a religious belief just as America was built on a Christian foundation. If someone were to come in and take away our belief system and force us to be Muslim, let’s just say, it would crumble everything upon which this country was created. Our Christian values are what made America great and took it to incredible heights of success and accomplishment.
However, just because Christianity worked for America does not mean it will work in other countries. Our forefathers were European and Europe was Christian so it made sense to bring our religious beliefs with us and utilize them as the foundation for our new nation. What did not work for us in Europe was the monarchy and it also made sense to eliminate that model and create a new model, one based on the Greek model of a Republic of the People. The political and religious models were the best of both worlds and together we created a nation unlike any other!
If we look at countries in the Middle East or Africa we find countries well-established in foundational religious beliefs and a political system which is tied to those religious ideologies. Their cultures are molded by these two systems and their ability to function is based on well-established systems. The people in these regions are, for the most part, tribal in nature and their socio-political and economic systems are the result of these tribal sub-systems. Their religious beliefs and their cultural systems are fueled and guided by their tribalism. If those systems are replaced by an entirely different system such as democracy or Christianity, the entire underlying foundation starts to crumble and eventually destroys the historical and economic system upon which the country was founded. When you replace their culture, religion, and economic system you are destroying their identity as well as their sovereignty.
There is a fine line between pride and arrogance. It is great to feel national pride, it is something quite different to arrogantly destroy another country in the name of democracy! Our government and politicians have forced the American Way on many countries when in fact their goal was power, greed, and control over another country’s wealth and resources. We have forced our politics and our religion on so many countries when all we wanted was their land, oil, or natural resources. We come in and take away everything that identifies them as who they are and if we are unable to seduce them with money then we go in and forcibly take it by endless wars and crony capitalistic rebuilding of nations! I don’t believe the founding fathers intended this to be the great American Way!
THE AMERICAN COLOR REVOLUTION
Ironically, just as we go into other countries and take out their leaders and respective governments to replace them with our own leaders and political system, the same is occurring here in the United States only in reverse. First, we took out a duly elected president by rigging an election and replaced him with an out-of-work actor of sorts who portrays himself to be Joe Biden fumbling and mumbling around on phony White House sets, or vacationing on the beach and throwing unattended campaign rallies. Our American foundation, Christianity, is being replaced with Satanic-style Communism. Everything this country was founded on is slowly crumbling away and our culture and socio-economic system are being destroyed leaving people in a state of chaos as our country and life as we’ve always known it disappears right before our eyes! The powers that be have decided who and what kind of governing we should have and have just taken the rights of the citizens away from them with no regard for what they want or need! Our Justice System has convicted a political candidate of 34 felonies which don’t exist and the accounting issue that supposedly interfered with the 2016 election didn’t even occur until 2017 which was after the election! It is hard to watch commercials of so many wounded soldiers trying to rebuild a new life for themselves and their families, some physically mutilated beyond repair and others an emotional wasteland from injuries in fighting forever wars. How must they feel after sacrificing so much of themselves and their families only to watch our country plummet into a dystopian hole of corruption, chaos, and ruination! That is NOT national pride, that is arrogance to a level so great that it destroys everything in its” path!
PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN
I want to ask each and every citizen of this country: Are you proud to be an American? If your answer is yes, then where is that pride reflected? Is it in the trash-littered streets and highways? Is it perhaps found in the graffiti stretching along every highway wall or bridge? Maybe it’s found in the homeless tent cities and encampments found in virtually every city in America. Pride in ourselves and our country can absolutely be found in the attire of so many with pants hanging down exposing butt cracks, boobs hanging out with undergarments in plain view, dirty hair, and filthy-looking clothes. Do we find pride when exposing our children to disgusting men dressed as women giving lessons on oral sex? Surely, we are proud when we allow our children to be mutilated because a money whore of a counselor or physician convinces not only the child they are in the wrong body but mindless incompetent parents as well! Maybe we best express our pride when we put up LBGTQ+ flags over American flags. Parents must be proud when their children can no longer read or write, let alone do basic math. No worries, we now not only dumb down our children but we lower the standards of the college system so these brain-dead kids can get into a university and become a surgeon now that the standard for medical schools is also lowered. We used to be ranked as the top in education and medical care but now we’re pretty much at the bottom. We should all be so proud. It’s easy to see why we would celebrate Pride Month.
THE VIRTUE OF PRIDE
Real pride is not a sin, it is a virtue. Pride generates a strong moral code. It instills the development of self-improvement. It aids in our ability to think out of the box, to think in terms of the “Big Picture”. We value esthetics, whether it be our bodies and appearance, our living spaces, or workspaces. We value the appearance of clean streets and cities. We take pride in our communities, our families, our schools, and we care about the quality of life of our country and its citizens. Pride is not self-absorption, that is arrogance. Pride is about looking beyond ourselves and wanting the world we live in to be a better place for ourselves and others. Pride is about motivation; it is the opposite of apathy. It means putting forth effort in every aspect of life. Pride is about honoring God, showing respect and appreciation for these magnificent meat suits he has blessed us with. Living a full and rich life surrounded by children and friends, growing both spiritually and physically in all regards is living with pride! When you have pride, you have hope. Question any homeless person on the street and you will find they have no pride nor any hope. Life without pride is merely an empty existence and shell of a life. Life is birthed from pride. It is the seed that grows and flourishes into something bigger and better than a ourselves. I encourage everyone to embrace pride, nurture it, and use it to maximum capacity to fulfill our mission of creating in God’s image and likeness.