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Brock Lanthaler

Mr. Clark

Honors British Literature 12

9 March 2018

Pride and Humility

A. Pride & Humility (Vice and Virtue)

The definition of pride as a vice can be described as “a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction

derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely

associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired” (Merriam-Webster). Pride

is the over obsession of one’s self. Humility is the remedy or opposite of what pride is entirely.

Humility can be described as “a modest or low view of one's own importance” (Merriam-

Webster). Humility is not thinking less of oneself but more of others. Humility is the remedy for

pride. Pride is deadly because it is self-deceiving. All people can see Pride in people, but it can

never be seen in oneself. People with prideful issues never realize that the sin is within them.

Others often tell people that pride is within their life, but the person fails to see it in their lives

because of their overconsumption of themselves. Proverbs 16:18 says “Pride leads to

destruction; a proud attitude brings ruin.” This is saying that a prideful mindset leads to

relationships being lost, anger between people and loss of trust between people that one cares

for. Pride is the root of all sin and can only be cured by humility. Humility, in contrast to pride,

builds relationships, causes happiness between people and it gains trust instead of taking it away.
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The way to become humble is to be around humble people. Just like if one is around depressed

people they will eventually become depressed. The way to learn humility is to grow closer to

God. Allow him to take control of one’s life because he is the almighty and powerful God and

yet he shows people mercy. Jesus Christ died for everyone so that their sins may be taken away.

What Jesus did is an example of what true humility is.

B. Wisdom From the Past

Pride has been an issue for people across the world since the beginning of time. Pride has

allowed for countless nations to fall and millions of deaths to occur. A prime example of pride is

Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany, twisted the minds of the German

people and made them believe anything because of the influential power that he possessed.

Hitler believed in the perfect race of people. He believed that the nation of Germany was the

master race and that any other race is beneath them. The problem with Hitler was the pride that

he had in his people. He believed in exterminating those who did not believe in what he believed

in. Hitler started a genocide known as the Holocaust to exterminate the Jewish race because he

believed that the Jews were beneath the German race. The Wisdom that can be learned is that all

people are equal no matter the race or ethnicity. All people are special in their own way and they

should be treated all the same no matter what their background is. Another example of a prideful

situation is the Tower of Babel in the Bible. King Nimrod of Babylonia wanted to become

famous among all people around the world. Nimrod decided that he wanted to build a tower that

would reach the Heavens. The people of Babylonia worked extremely hard to create the tallest
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tower that has ever existed. They showed tremendous pride in the creation of the tower and

began to boast to one another about how great the tower would be. God saw the creation of the

tower, but became disappointed on how the people of Babylonia became so arrogant. This

arrogance led to God switching the languages of the people of Babylonia so that they could not

understand each other anymore. The Tower of Babel was never completed because the people of

Babylonia could not finish what they started with the different languages that they all spoke. The

lesson to be learned is that believing that one is better than everyone else is wrong. There is a

difference between having confidence in oneself and being over confident.

C. Pride and Humility Today

Pride and humility are on opposite sides of the spectrum in today’s world. Pride for example

is growing at an uncontrollable rate while humility is becoming less and less popular. Pride is in

full affect across the entire world and can be seen in almost every situation imaginable. Pride is

most prominent in social media, everyday conversations and in our spiritual lives. Pride exists in

social media by constantly seeking out the amount of likes on a particular post that we share. The

concept of social media is to communicate with friends or relatives that one does not see

anymore. The reality of social media is to show one’s life to another person. It has become a

contest about how many likes or comments one can receive on a post. If a certain number of

likes is not reached, a disappointment occurs that not enough people saw the picture that one

posted. A humble approach to a craving for social media is to take a break; quit worrying about

what other people do and just go out and have fun with the people around oneself. It is easy to
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spot pride in other people, but it is extremely difficult to come to the realization about oneself.

Everyday conversations with people often have a competition on who can one up the other. It is

always about who can tell the funniest story or what made one’s day the worst ever. The topic of

the conversation is for the focus to always come back to oneself. Another example is a person

who thinks they know everything. A person like this never admits when he or she is wrong, but

is quick to find the wrong in someone else. This can often become a lifestyle of countless people.

Enjoy the conversations that one has with one another instead of always trying to focus the

conversation around oneself. Pride shows up in spiritual lives through the way people interact

with one another. Prideful people constantly call attention to their selves and that is not what

Jesus wanted for people. Jesus wants all people to find success, but to not become boastful and

arrogant. A way to avoid pride falling into one’s spiritual lives is to “Let another man praise you,

and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips” (Proverbs 27:2). Instead of boasting

about what one does, stay humble and more can be achieved.

D. Applying the Wisdom of the Past

What can be learned from past experiences that involved pride? What can be changed? The

change that needs to occur is respect for all people. Showing every person kindness and respect

like oneself would expect from other people. Hitler’s Nazi campaign was based on hatred and

pride that they were the best. They did not respect those around them which led to their ultimate

defeat. The Tower of Babel is another example of how pride leads to destruction. The tower of

Babel was created to be better than every other nation. The Babylonian people had so much pride

in what they were creating that it eventually led to God stepping in and switching the languages
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for everyone. The wisdom that can be learned from both of these situations is that pride pulls

people from God. The way to beat pride is to grow closer to God and to understand his truth.

God believes in all people, but the struggle that people have is believing in themselves over the

goodness in God. Learning to be humble and following God’s examples are ways to escape the

grasp of pride and from committing sin.

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Works Cited

“BibleGateway.” BibleGateway.com: A searchable online Bible in over 150 versions and 50

languages., www.biblegateway.com/.
C.S. Lewis Institute, www.cslewisinstitute.org/Pride_and_Humility_SinglePage
“Humility.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/humility
“Humility vs Pride And Why The Difference Should Matter To You.” Humility vs Pride And
Why The Difference Should Matter To You | Jeremie Kubicek, jeremiekubicek.com/humility-vs-
pride/.
“Pride.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pride.
“Three Ways Pride May Be Infecting Us All.” Life, Hope & Truth,
lifehopeandtruth.com/change/sin/three-ways-pride-may-be-infecting-us-all/.