Today’s Wisdom: “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” King Solomon
By Bill D. Ward
A couple years ago I was out on my favorite lake fishing when the rain moved in. I figured it was time to leave so headed for the dock. By the time I got there it was raining pretty hard, making the dock very slippery.
It had not actually occurred to me that the dock was slippery and in my haste, I jumped from the boat fully expecting to stick the landing and head for the car. Faster that I could have thought about what was happening, I was airborne. In the split second of rational thought I was allowed, “This can’t be good!” came to mind. Then I became very wet.
I had hit my head on the front of the boat on the way down, but I didn’t know that yet. Instead, the first thing that occurred to me as I stood up in the water and looked around was, “Who saw me take a dive?” I was relieved to find no one around.
In that moment of gut reaction, it was not my injury or my wet clothes that concerned me, it was my pride. I didn’t want anyone to see me in my embarrassing moment, when in fact, the presence of someone close by might have been a lifesaver if the blow on the way down had been more severe.
One of the things I have learned is that we don’t like to be seen in any state of imperfection. That is perfectly fine if we are talking about make-up or combed hair and attractive clothing. It isn’t so fine when we need a helping hand and are too proud to ask for it.
I saw it often in both my careers. As a police officer, I even arrested quite a few people who made poor decisions based on pride. Actually, I guess sometimes pride itself is a poor decision.
The old saying says, “Pride goes before destruction.” We are all going to fall or fail sometimes, one way or another. If pride after the fall keeps us from the help we need, well, that’s just foolish.
I’m just sayin.’