Pride and Humility

In The Eternal Everyday, Elder Quentin L. Cook said some bold things that many people in the modern world need to hear. Notably, he focussed his message on the need for humility, speaking out against boastful social media posts and almost every other claim to superiority. He counselled us to exercise humility and Christlike love for others rather than trying to belittle them or elevate ourselves.

I have previously thought that if Pride is "the universal sin, the great vice" as President Benson described it, then humility must be a great virtue, and the world needs it now more than ever. There are many social trends that feed on and exacerbate people's sense of pride, encouraging them to take pride in aspects of themselves over which they have no control, like their nationality, gender, sexual orientation, or skin color. In my opinion, being proud of any of those things makes very little sense. Of course, in my opinion, it makes little sense to take pride in anything at all. It makes some sense to be proud of our accomplishments, and I think that a certain amount of that kind of pride may even be healthy, but when we compare that which we have done and can do against that which God has done and can do, we see that we really don't have a whole lot of room to boast.

Pride is a terrible problem that I see too much in today's world, including in myself. I sometimes suffer from an inflated sense of my own importance. I think that almost everyone has at least some amount of trouble with pride, in one form or another. And in today's world, the pride seems shockingly overt and straightforward. Some openly and unapologetically acknowledge their pride. I wouldn't be surprised if some have even bragged about it. This world has a serious pride issue, and the only way I can think of fighting this issue is to take a personal commitment to try to be humble. If pride is the problem, surely humility is the solution.