Isn't Pride a sin?
I have always found it strange that people are proud this and proud that, proud about their colour, or their sexuality, or their heritage. And yeah, while I am not religious in any way, the majority of people are and pride tends not to mesh well with the various scriptures. But that is the minor part of my annoyance, because what most people are "proud of" seems to be things that are not within their control. You can't choose your skin colour, your parents and supposedly, your sexuality. So, what does it mean to be "proud" of those things?
I don't think pride has no place, because I think when it is a level of self-respect and personal worth based on one's own accomplishments or what one played a significant part in, has its place. But pride based on inherited traits?
I wish people would take more pride in what they do instead of what they "are", because taking pride in what you are (what you believe yourself to be) is the lazy way. It is an avoidance of what actually makes us who we are - our behaviours. Celebrating our various traits has hijacked the approach that what we do matters, so that a person can feel "self-worth" without actually having to do anything at all.
Have you ever thought what "self-worth" means?
Self is obvious, as should worth be, but it seems that people don't tend to put much stock in the actual meaning of things. Worth however is about value and therefore self-worth is about the value of who we are. But worth is the value, importance, usefulness of something or someone. And what that means is that the worth of the self is tradeable.
Not necessarily as a commodity, but our self-worth should be derived from what we are able to offer the world. Our value might not be monetary, but it still requires the ability to transfer it, because something that is non-transferrable, that is static, is valueless, because it can't change hands. But our behaviours impact on others and our environment, which means that they do hold transferrable value, which is why what we do matters and "what we are" doesn't.
Does that go against your intuition?
We have been led to believe that just "being" makes us intrinsically valuable, but I don't believe it does. In fact, I think that we are intrinsically a cost in resources, which means to be valuable we have to generate more value than we cost, and most of us are failing at that I would assume. Again - not just looking at money here, because money is a ridiculous indicator of value.
If we aren't making the world better, we are making it worse.
We aren't intrinsically valuable just for being, and we only start to add value when we are able to provide value-adding activity to the world. This might come in what we do for work or how we raise our children, or it could be in how we repel those who do harm, or influence people to change their behaviours for the better.
As I see it, the world doesn't matter at all other than its ability to provide our species with life and resources. It was here before us, and it will be here after us, in whatever form it takes. However, we have to take care of the world itself because we need it as a species to survive. And as I think survival isn't enough and we should be looking to thrive as a species, which means increasing our wellbeing, potential and opportunity, caring for the environment is a core function of our species. And again, we are failing.
And I think this is what drives me to annoyance about "taking pride" in all these things that don't matter, but not behaving in the ways that do matter. We can wave rainbow flags or swastikas, and ultimately they are the same thing - a symbol. They aren't the actions we need to make the world a better place, they are just people making visible what they are, without having to do anything. And the more that do it, the more support and belief in what doesn't actually matter.
Think for a moment and consider a world where our self-worth was based on the positive difference we make in the world - how many would be valuable? All those people sitting in front of their screens screaming at strangers over ideology? All those people trading for imaginary money on derivatives? All those people playing games, watching movies, and staring into space with a headset on?
What actually has value?
Rather than being automatically proud of who we are, we should be working to be proud of how we are. How we behave, how we treat people, how we raise our children, how we interact with others, how we consider our actions and the impacts they have, and how we are not surviving, but striving in the things we do to make the world better.
But that is not what we do. We don't want to strive, we want comfort. We want convenience and the easy way. We want to feel good about ourselves without having to work for it.
And it is easy to achieve.
Just take pride in what you are.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Be part of the Hive discussion.
- Comment on the topics of the article, and add your perspectives and experiences.
- Read and discuss with others who comment and build your personal network
- Engage well with me and others and put in effort
And you may be rewarded.
The whole phenomena revolves around "being vs becoming" philosophy. Alas! Many people, today, seem preoccupied with defining themselves; while, fewer are focused on developing themselves. There is no doubt that labels can describe us, but they cannot substitute for conduct. At the same time, I think a healthy society requires both self-respect and self-improvement. One without the other becomes either arrogance or mere self-loathing.
Moreover, I think there is a difference between worth and merit. Merit is something which is earned through action. Worth is what prevents us from treating people as some tissue papers, especially when they are unable to contribute. Like a society that values only utility eventually forgets compassion.
And I think this is evidenced by the state of the world, and the level of general health.
"The word is not the thing"
For sure. Because "utility" normally gets defined from a monetary value.
I think the bigger issue behind people being proud is the "why". Unfortunately, we live in a world where people believe if you aren't "this", then you are wrong. If people stopped caring and being prejudiced over these inherent traits, then people wouldn't need to justify them. In the end that's mainly what it is, pride is their justification for existing.
I was reading some random thing about some US senator who keeps making statements like "gays don't belong in America" for attention, and people bite.
Do you know what is pretty gay? Men worrying about what other men do consensually in their own bedrooms. :D
Yes. And I think how we should justify our existence is by striving to make life better during our time alive.
Why does that not surprise me at all about the senator. It's honestly farcical anymore. I don't even know. In a perfect world, people would be able to just live their lives and try to make the world a better place, but here we are. I'm not really a fan of everyone needing to announce they are proud this or proud that, but I can understand why they do it and why they feel they need to in the current culture.
I always say that pride is going to be my downfall.
so far so good touch wood x_x
I so despise the term "value-add" but I have been despising a lot of buzzwords for the better part of a decade now XD
it's lessened off a bit since I stopped webmonkeying for money but still spikes some low level rage every time I read any of them
I have on plenty of occasions told people (usually my kids but sometimes other people) to "be proud of your height" when they are taller than average and slouch a lot because they're self-conscious about it for whatever reason.
I will also tell my boys in the same breath to "stop growing" and "WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT GROWING" which is a running joke in all my classes as the boys will have massive growth spurts at the worst possible times always during comp season and temporarily lose all of their skills and then it's a mad scramble to try to reconfigure their bodies before comps
I don't think there's necessarily a problem with being proud of who you are (whatever that is) or where you come from, only the delusion that's all that ever needs to be done and that accolades should be received for it.
Hmm. Maybe this is part of the issue of pride, where the other side of it is shame. Should they be proud of their height, or should they use it to their advantage and make the most of the conditions they have?
Yet, we live in a world that now gives massive advantage to people who do very little to be famous. The "workless wealth" culture drives everyone to expect more by doing less.
I'm mostly just trying to correct their posture and when I say it like that they always laugh and straighten up so.
I don't know with the workless wealth thing, the amount of work that goes into making it workless seems about the same as or more than "just" working a "normal" job.
Perhaps it doesn't "count" because it doesn't feel like "real" "work" (conflated with "mnind numbingly tedious boring much-loathed job" therefore you absolutely cannot possibly under any circumstances possibly ever like anything that is actually work)?
Or do people genuinely think you do literally nothing and the money will just manifest in?
You’re right, we don’t choose where we come from or what we’re born with. Those things just are. But the pride that actually means something? That comes from what we do with it. From waking up and choosing to be kinder, to work harder, to become a better version of ourselves. No one can take credit for our birth, but we can take credit for our effort, our choices, our growth. Maybe that’s the pride worth holding onto, the kind we earn, not the kind we inherit.
Once we start making our own decisions, we are responsible for what we do until we die.
Totally agree with you here. I think it is better to be proud of your accomplishments than of what race you are, or how tall you are or how good looking, because not only those things don't really matter but also we don't have a choice. I was born with genetic information to be 185 cm and white, what kind of achievement is that? 😀
For some, you have accomplished master-race-ness :D
That is too correct, we never can choose those things for ourselves. But, we can choose some major things like, how to build our own world, how to be a good human, how to get those goals we had Dreams for. Some of these "HOW'S" are very possible.
If I can't leave some good impacts on others I should never add bad things, by which people remember me in bad words, like why do I need to do bad things when I am here for a good purpose?
Everyone here; is have a solid reason of being here. Some can understand many are ignoring;
And I think if the focus was on getting it done individually, collectively we would do some great things.
It seems hard for people to be a good person these days. There is no money in it.
This is the main problem, sadly everyone is now just working for money, even if they need a small change in their own lifestyle they will think thousands of times before going for it. Other side, if they can get paid for a non-sense work many will die to do.
The incentives are aligned for bad outcomes.
It's exactly like this: unless we improve our motivations, society will not improve. We think that if we improve alone, what will happen? But if we think about it, if one person improves, at least one person will be better.
Should we improve ourselves before saying it to others?
So this. Nowadays I think most of the "pride" is meant just to be posted on social media, without necessarily doing the work to be actually proud of something.
Congratulations @tarazkp! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain And have been rewarded with New badge(s)
Your next payout target is 440000 HP.
The unit is Hive Power equivalent because post and comment rewards can be split into HP and HBD
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPCheck out our last posts:
!BBH
I think we should encourage a culture that prioritizes contributions rather than identity and existence.
yes. its great that u are proud of who u r, how u were born, but its more about what u make of that start and how u shape yourself..
Thanks