18 Pride goes before destruction,and a haughty spirit before a fall.19 It is better to be of a lowly spirit among thepoorthan to divide the spoil with the proud.
It is not “pride” in and of itself that is the problem, rather it is of what we are proud that can lead us into trouble. There is little doubt that the author of Proverbs (ostensibly a father offering wisdom to his son) would be very proud if his child were to follow his advice and be humble, helping the poor and caring for the helpless. The danger of pride is in being confident in one’s own abilities and achievements rather than lifting up others and helping those less fortunate. We should not be proud of being wealthy, but we can take pride in being able to use what wealth we have to help others.
- Proud to Support Penn State Jewish Studies
- Proud to Support Penn State Soccer
- Proud to Support Penn State Libraries
- Proud to Support Penn State Alumni
- Proud to Support Penn State Engineering
- Proud to Support Penn State Agriculture
You get the idea. Of course some have the mistaken impression that all we are proud of is football, so some corrective is not inappropriate. And that is the point of this piece. People can have all sorts of different impressions of what honor, integrity and pride mean to them and what they think it means to us. We need to be sensitive to that as well as take stock of our own positions. Just what is it we are proud of as Penn Staters?