A Moral Equation

A moral equation

Pride: noun. a high or inordinate opinion of one's own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc.

Honesty: noun.  freedom from deceit or fraud.

Pride and honesty are two very powerful characteristics that play major roles in my life. I was raised to be prideful in anything that I do. I was also raised to be an honest citizen. Although I may not have been consistent in portraying these traits 100 percent, I strived to do so as much as possible.

Pride and honesty are traits I believe all human beings should posses, but can an imbalance of the two cause one to be immoral? -- Before I go any further, let me also define moral as the distinction between right and wrong within ones own ethical values. Keep in mind these are my own morals.-- Can someone's pride be too powerful that it causes their honesty to be questioned? I think it can. Sometimes we can't handle things in our life and we need help desperately, but we have too much pride to ask for assistance. This can cause the demise of our selves.

Pride is a trait that should be used to boost your confidence. However, what many people fail to realize is that the two are not the same. When we become too prideful, we tend to call it overconfidence and see it as a good thing, but too much pride in my opinion can cause us to be blinded to proper actions.

Recently, I allowed my pride to get the best of me. Brandon and I were taking care of some business and we decided that I should oversee the remainder of these affairs. Of course it became a tad overwhelming, and rather than ask for help from my brother and business partner, I kept it to myself trying to handle the situation on my own. Too much pride almost caused my company to take a loss. Thank God he stepped in at the right time. I felt embarrassed that I couldn't handle this on my own, but I was even more embarrassed that I wasn't honest with Brandon or even myself. Too much pride in the beginning caused me to have no pride in the end.

This is a prime example of my moral equation:
           pride - honesty = failure

I know you're thinking that you won't fail every time with this equation, but if you do not achieve an honest and ethical success, you haven't achieved real success. Don't base anything in your life on lies.

I love the definition of honesty that I used above. Freedom from deceit or fraud. Powerful. Don't be so prideful that it causes you to be a fraud.

Until next time my peeps.