Sunday Wisdom: On pride…

The irony of Memorial Day exactly preceding Pride Month can’t be lost upon everyone, can it? But then, as they say, “God works in mysterious ways.”

Indeed.

Proponents of Pride Month wrap themselves in virtue cloaks of love and tolerance. Of late, they insist their movement is —at its heart— “good for the kids.” So, it must be good for you. And your kids. And you must use our pronouns. And you must believe that men can become women and women can become men; that your little boys can become little girls and your little girls can become little boys. If that is what our kids feel, you must affirm them. We think this, so it is true. And you must celebrate our values for the month of June. Or… (you know the rest).

On Memorial Day, we honor our fallen service men and women. They fought for the freedom of all Americans. They died for you and your children. They are wrapped in the existential and virtuous cloak of sacrifice through their service to us.

Of whom are you prouder? The former, or the latter? The left, or the right?

Is Pride something to be proud of? In writing this piece I consulted some experts, perhaps you will as well. If you do, you will see there is certainly healthy debate on the topic:

Is Pride a virtue or a vice?

Wikipedia explains:

When viewed as a virtue, pride in one's abilities is known as virtuous pride, the greatness of soul or magnanimity, but when viewed as a vice it is often known to be self-idolatry, sadistic contempt, vanity or vainglory.

Aristotle’s position can be summed up this way:

Someone with proper pride thinks themselves worthy and is worthy; they make claims to appropriate treatment by others in accord with their merits. Thus, Aristotle notes, proper pride is a kind of “crown of the virtues” as one must have already achieved great things to properly feel it.

The Bible says (among other things with respect to Pride):

Proverbs 11:2 “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”

It seems that understanding of “Pride” is nuanced for some yet not at all for others. For some, it needs “modifiers” and “ifs” - it’s complicated. For others, it’s clear.

Perhaps that’s why the proponents of Pride must have a month and our soldiers receive merely a day.

This post reprinted with permission from The Reluctant Californian’s Substack.