Sunday, September 19, 2010
Proud to be humble
My mother seemed to think that pride was one of the worst sins. And if we are talking about excessive pride then I have to agree that it does not make a person attractive to others. However, if we ever said anything positive about ourselves we were put in our place. It seemed that even the smallest amount of pride was a sin. I suspect that what I say is right about many of my generation, we grew up with very low self esteem because every time we felt good about ourselves it triggered a follow-on feeling of guilt.
I want 'proud' to stop being a dirty word because if we can do that we can start being honest. I'm hearing so many people saying these days 'I felt humbled' when under the circumstances they are describing they should be saying 'I felt proud'.
My dictionary defines humble as 'having or showing a modest or low estimate of one's own importance'. If someone has just paid you a big compliment or said something that acknowledged your ability in some way, why would that make you be humble? Let's be honest. There is nothing wrong with admitting a little pride. Let's cut the bullshit and without getting carried away by it all simply say 'I felt proud.'
I want 'proud' to stop being a dirty word because if we can do that we can start being honest. I'm hearing so many people saying these days 'I felt humbled' when under the circumstances they are describing they should be saying 'I felt proud'.
My dictionary defines humble as 'having or showing a modest or low estimate of one's own importance'. If someone has just paid you a big compliment or said something that acknowledged your ability in some way, why would that make you be humble? Let's be honest. There is nothing wrong with admitting a little pride. Let's cut the bullshit and without getting carried away by it all simply say 'I felt proud.'
