Every now and then, as each of my great writer friends will attest, there’s a great section of a great chapter in a great book that stands out for all time… a section that stays with you long after the book is set down…
I think of chapter 11 from the iconic “To Kill a Mockingbird,” when Atticus Finch gives Scout a basic, profound lesson in how racism works, at one point saying: “ ‘Scout,’ said Atticus, ‘nigger-lover is just one of those terms that don’t mean anything — like snot-nose. It’s hard to explain — ignorant, trashy people use it when they think somebody’s favoring Negroes over and above themselves. It’s slipped into usage with some people like ourselves, when they want a common, ugly term to label somebody.’ ”
(…love that Atticus Finch…)
Or at the onset of chapter 1, from “The Kite Runner,” by Khaled Hosseini: “That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.”
As we watch events unfold all around us — from the people that seem to dominate the news flow — from retiring athletes to politicians that probably should be retiring — I’m reminded of a chapter perhaps all of us should read, regardless of faith, regardless of where on life’s journey we may be. From intellectual giant and legendary author, C.S. Lewis, an excerpt from chapter 8 of his third section in “Mere Christianity”…
“Today I come to that part of Christian morals where they differ most sharply from all other morals. There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which everyone loathes when he sees it in someone else…
There is no fault that makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others.
The vice I am talking of is Pride or Self-Conceit…
According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.
Does this seem to you exaggerated? If so, think it over. I pointed out a moment ago that the more pride one had, the more one disliked pride in others. In fact, if you want to find out how proud you are the easiest way is to ask yourself, ‘How much do I dislike it when other people snub me, or refuse to take any notice of me, or shove their oar in, or patronise me, or show off?’ The point is that each person’s pride is in competition with everyone else’s pride…
It is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began. Other vices may sometimes bring people together: you may find good fellowship and jokes and friendliness among drunken people or unchaste people. But Pride always means enmity – it is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God.
In God you come up against something that is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that – and, therefore, know your-self as nothing in comparison – you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you…”
Lewis is speaking not of the pleasure in being praised, affirmation, or admiration; it is a beautiful thing to admire another, to be “so proud of your son,” so-to-speak. Lewis instead is identifying the definition of pride synonymous with “arrogance,” “self-importance,” hubris,” or informally, “big-headedness.”
That’s what’s so unattractive about so many who dominate the news flow; it’s also unattractive in us.
The opposite of pride?
Humility… which is always more attractive.
Respectfully…
AR