I found myself thinking on pride again yesterday. There is the pride that helps us retain our dignity, our person hood and then there is the other pride. I called it the foolish pride. It is hard to explain what it is. For instance, when two people have a fall out and as much as they want to make up, that kind of “misplaced” pride held them back. One could lose so much holding on to such pride.

I found myself thinking on it after watching one of those Singapore movie series. The main character was a loving, warm hearted, giving person with a kind of innocence about her. Direct, sincere, good hearted and a diehard optimist. Due to that, she has no barriers of pride, jealousy or such negative traits.

When she found out her mother did not die when she was three but left her to go with another man, there was hurt, crying but no recrimination. When her mother was sad about lost opportunities with her, she turned her mother onto opportunities to be there for her from there on. Whoever writes the series built a loveable character, and she is very lovable.

There was another movie which I could not stomach, siblings bickering, friends engaged in rivalry, jealousy and tearing each other apart. Yet more insidious than pride is jealousy. It destroys. I skipped the parts on jealousy. It is too uncomfortable to watch. Just as it is uncomfortable watching the series, “Out sourcing.”  The writer does a great job featuring Indians with their games, mostly dishonest, insincere and manipulative and thought it funny. It was too uncomfortable to watch.

Getting back to it, as I grew older, I see humility as a valuable virtue and asset. Humility is malleable, it is soft, it is gentle, it merges into life. It is truth. Humility sets us in truth, help us see ourselves as we are and it provides strength. The humble shall indeed possess the land.