PRISONER EXPRESS

I don't believe there is anything wrong with pride so long as it's not overdone. If it is overdone, that pride could lead to conceit. If it weren't for pride, we wouldn't have the things we have now. Look around at all the things man has built. It's not to put all your pride on what you've built or accomplished; it's to take pride in your talent, skill, ability, or gift or whatever else you choose to call it. It would be dumb to just stand around and get lost in admiration for what you've done because that would end all you could do in the future. You'd never move forward and therefore you'd be a one hit wonder.

Pride has been given such a bad wrap through the years and that's due to Christianity. If you look at your beautiful children and you smile at that happy feeling you get for having children, that's pride on a subconscious level and you're going to hell because Christians say so. One has to be extremely dumb if they believe that pride is a sin. How would humanity survive and prosper if we all were as naïve enough to fall for a doctrine that says our souls are damned if we indulge in pride. Pride is what motivates you to change what you do, how you look and how you live.

Pride, according to Christianity, belongs with the other 7deadly sins, which leads to physical, mental, and emotional gratification. An example comes from A. S. Lavey. He pointed out that "anyone who buys an article of clothing for a purpose other than covering his body and protecting it from the elements [air, wind, water, fire] is guilty of pride." However, there is not a person on this earth who is completely devoid of ornamentation. Regardless of how verbose the cynic may be in his intellectual description of how free he is, he's still wearing the elements of pride. Look at these TV evangelists who go around the world, preaching the word and raising money for God. They are completely adorned in the trappings of make-up and nice clothes to enhance their beauty. So, they're guilty of pride as well, yet they stand up and damn you to hell for self indulging in life. And by the way, where is all that money going while 20% of the U.S population is homeless, poor or dying of some incurable disease because it's too expensive to pay for a cure?

In essence, no one should feel guilty for taking pride in life and all the accomplishments we make in life. And again, there's nothing wrong with pride. Excessiveness, however, can make you annoying to others. So, if you are to be guilty of something, it should be that you are guilty of being annoying to your neighbor. We have to live our lives for ourselves because we are all individuals so we shouldn't live and wait for the criticism of others. Don't feel guilty for what someone else feels is wrong because if you like it, then it can't be wrong. It can even be beneficial to you. Therefore, it is up to you to live for yourself and if being prideful makes you happy, then why not?

For thousands of years man has done penance fore something he never should have had to feel guilty about in the first place.