Pride is a virtue that can either make or break you! And I am talking from experience. there was a time when I thought I knew better than everyone else and if people didn't take my ideas I would not speak to them for days. I got so used to having my own way that I ended up dictating to people and would sulk for days if I was ignored. I also found myself competing with those people I thought were better than me and went to great lengths to prove that I always knew best. As a result this kind of sick behaviour made me very unpopular with people around me, is it therefore any wonder no one wanted to be friends with me? Although I knew I was being irrational most of the time I just couldn't stop myself. I just carried on being miss-know-it-all until one particularly nasty incident made me realize I was sick, not with disease but with PRIDE!
I would like to believe that pride is an inborn trait that runs in everyone's veins. I must have inherited my kind of pride from someone even though I never saw them displaying it the way I did! I will not however use it as an excuse even though I am tempted to. Let me now talk about the pride that is regarded as positive. In life there are many things that can make us proud. Like when we have succeeded where many have failed , or when we have achieved our goals as planned, or when we have been promoted as a result of hard work, or when our loved ones have done great things. All these are good reasons to be proud of because no one gets hurt when someone is happy. And then there is the kind of pride when someone insists on doing the right things all the time with regards to most things like good table manners, tidiness, wearing good quality clothes, driving good cars, having a good house, sending their children to good schools etc. I could cite many more examples. Again this kind of pride will not have a negative effect on those who are watching. It is because the person is just proud to show what they really want in life and that they have got principles. There is really nothing conceited about this kind of pride.
And then there is pride that we display as a result of what society dictates. Sometimes there are societal values that we must be seen to uphold and if we do not, there is always a chance of being labelled misfits, abnormal or subnormal. Because the idea of social stratification places people on different rungs of the ladder, the ones at the top obviously think they can dictate to those below. so we find the so called elite associating with each other. To maintain being elite, this class has to do certain things that are beyond the reach of the majority. Like living in very expensive suburbs, driving the latest posh cars, shopping in the most expensive stores and sending their children to very expensive schools. They sometimes even go to outrageous extremes just to prove to society that they are top class. And they are always very proud to show that they are way ahead. Now, if you happen to be a lower class person associating with these, then you are forced to eat, drink, dress, talk and walk like them! That is when we see people displaying a distorted type of pride, because they are actually torn between two classes. And the effect? No one will respect a person who is not sure of what they are doing! I personally think that a person should be proud of what they have chosen to be , not what society thinks they should be. So this kind of pride that we associate with the elite is, in my opinion conceited because it looks down on the less fortunate. If you have watched the English comedy 'Keeping up appearances' then you will know what I am talking about.
Pride takes the form of different forms of behaviours and attitudes. These can either be positive or negative. my sort of pride was negative and lot of people can be forgiven for saying it wasn't pride but selfishness. This would be because most of the things I did could be attributed to selfish behaviour. But it was the sort of pride when one has an exaggerated opinion of oneself. This is the kind of pride that unfortunately is displayed by the majority of people. It is a kind of pride that is self destructive if it is not nipped in the bud. It is this kind of pride that stops us from saying sorry when we have done wrong or forgiving when we have been wronged. I could go on and on, (and I am proud that I can express myself in a foreign language!) but all I am trying to say is your pride can either make or break you.