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Columns by hilly, by newest first

  • books/stories to read by hilly
    my list of books/stories i've got to read and a list of books/stories that i think you should read
  • Assessing Pride and the Human Response by hilly
    It is the nature of people to desire approval, which often comes in the form of materialistic representations of achievement, which give way for a false sense of pride. Encouraged by a society engrossed by their status, in comparison to other people as well as in comparison to what they believe themselves to be capable of, pride has adopted a misleading connotation directly related to acceptance and a sort of overcoming. But if we unveil pride, expose it, we see that pride is evil as well as undeserved by most who acquire it. What allows one man the right to deal acceptance, to instill a vessel which will lead to the possibility of behavior characterized by a self declaration of superiority? And furthermore, what allows that same man to deal failure, to instill an identical vessel which will lead to the equally detrimental possibility of behavior characterized by a self declaration of inferiority? It's questions like this that cause me to reevaluate the very basis of the educational system, as well as anything that relies on it's competitive nature as a composition of it's ideals. This is not to say that skill and ability cannot be assessed, or even that they should not be assessed, but simply that rewards and punishments, mental or otherwise, should not be distributed based on these assessments. It is my firm belief that a neutral response to any such comparison would minimize the human spirits desire for approval and that pride would be a much smaller demon, if present at all.

    To fully understand the characteristics and potential harm of pride, it is necessary to make a comparison between pride and confidence, which are in my opinion, two very different specimens altogether. Confidence is a belief in yourself that extends only as far as the perception of possibility in your abilities. Confidence is merely an estimation, where even when overestimated is still shameless. Pride is a resulting behavior, and therefore a behavior that is more difficult to suppress because it perceives itself in a justified manner due to success that it has already accomplished. After the possibility of your abilities has proven itself to satisfy expectations and perhaps even perform beyond those expectations, one might feel as though these achievements have granted them pride, that they are allowed that indulgence.

    A person could argue that pride is not something acquired, and therefore not extinguishable. We must take into account the definition given above; "pride is a resulting behavior." Anything that occurs as a result of something else could be avoided simply by escaping the cause. But success is certainly not avoidable, people are bound to be good at some things and not so good at others. So we must accept that pride has multiple causes, the most obvious being success. But I theorize that people have different sensitivities to success, in the same way that some people have tempers, and others don't. It's certainly something inherited, but also that the impact of can be lessened by being raised in an environment that does not indulge such ideas, nor support or allow anyone to succumb to the temptation of pride.

    But let us consider a few select definitions as stated by The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.

    2. Pleasure or satisfaction taken in an achievement, possession, or association.
    3. Arrogant or disdainful conduct or treatment; haughtiness.