The Many Kinds of Pride

For this blog post, I just want to acknowledge that my commenters are right. You can purposefully put you best foot forward without being deceitful. I personally thing that (in my case, at least) the line between trying to impress people and trying to deceive people into having an inflated opinion of me is razor thin, but it's possible not to cross it. I admit that it's possible for me to make myself look good without being dishonest. But more importantly than that, I want to talk about the definition of pride.

I'm familiar with President Ezra Taft Benson's legendary talk, "Beware of Pride." I believe quoted from it recently. In that talk, President Benson said that there is a difference between how the world uses that term and how the scriptures use it, and it's important to know the difference so we can better understand the scriptures and learn from them.

In addition to the scriptural definition of pride, there are at least two common definitions of pride - one negative and one positive. The common negative definition of pride is practically synonymous with arrogance. Both the common "arrogance" pride and the scriptural "enmity" pride should be avoided. However, there is a positive kind of pride that's referred to when we say that we're proud of something or someone.

It's alright to be proud of things. We can be proud of others, or even ourselves. We can be proud of our accomplishments and of our qualities. I can even be proud of my red hair and how sharp I look in a nice suit and my favorite tie. There's nothing wrong with that.

I suppose the confusion comes in when there are so many different definitions of a word. If a person isn't careful, they could use a word one way, giving the impression that the word couldn't be used in any other way. Understanding the potential of miscommunication, I try to make myself as clear as possible, but sometimes, especially when I end up blogging late in the evening, I don't choose my words as carefully as I should. One element of arrogant pride is a reluctance to admit that one is wrong or that one might have made a mistake. I'm suffering from that sort of pride right now, but I'm not too proud to overcome it.

I probably misspoke in a few of my recent blog posts. Considering how many blog posts I've churned out over the last two-and-a-half years, I've definitely misspoken in dozens of blog posts. I try to be truthful and accurate, but I make mistakes as frequently as anyone. When I do, I try to apologize and correct my mistakes. I guess I've done that now. I'm sorry for choosing my words poorly and for implying things I didn't really mean. I'll continue to try avoiding those kinds of mistakes in the future.