Pride Needs To Go.

Everyone tries to stick out. Everyone wants to be original. Unique. Nobody wants to be the exact same as everyone else around them. Why can't we be content with ourselves? Is it so bad to just 'fit in'? Is it too hard to follow in the footsteps of someone who may or may not be greater or wiser? The intent of so many these days seems to be to make a huge impact on the world, to change a problem into a solution, to fix what no person has fixed before. A goal of having a joyful life or even a family who simply adores one another just doesn't seem to be enough anymore. We've trashed what a true, pure family really is by tearing it into pieces with our lust for worldly love, by adding a stepfather, by adding a stepmother, by throwing in half siblings here and there. We say it's okay. We try to move on, but the true fact is, we're lying to ourselves. Even the American Dream has been distorted into some sort of selfish, greedy will to do better than those around us. People can't stand to see the person next to them hold an accomplishment in their hand with any small sense of pride. Money. A car. A job. A family. We feel the need to somehow prove ourselves worthy of affection, of love, of praise. Since when has a simple 'thank you' not sufficed for gratitude? Since when has 'you're welcome' perverted into 'whatever' or 'yeah'? Since when has 'I love you' been told to the man met yesterday on the street corner? We claim to want to change the world. We claim to long for a better future. We claim to desire a utopia of love, peace, bright rainbows, and butterflies, but all we accomplish is prideful, self-indulgent, scrimpy, sinful, disdainful victories over what is right. What is true. What is pure. What is just. There's absolutely no way to fix any problem, to accomplish any dream, to hold any worthy victory while focusing solely on oneself. Every single time we put ourselves before the good of others, we forfeit the right to a blissful, delightful life. Every time we put ourselves above that homeless persons across the street, we throw away what could've been the joy of helping another. Every time our pride comes first, we fall, because "pride comes before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18). The next fall, just may be the fall of man.