The Pride of Men

You. You and your talent.

How high you regard your won talents. How great you think your abilities. You dare not boast openly about them. But I see through your thin veil of humility. I see your arrogance. I see the smugness in your heart. You think you’re better than others. I know people like you. People like you think you don't need anybody. People like you don’t want anybody’s help. You're so confident you think by your own sheer strength and ability you will make it to the top. And at the top, you think the glory will be shared with none, but acknowledged by all. You downplay others people’s achievements and sing praises of your own. You think you deserve better. You think you deserve more.

But you have no empathy. You complain about having to clean up other peoples mess, You complain about having to make right what others have done wrong other people's screw ups. You insist people should pay for their mistakes. You proudly declare that no one will ever need to clear your mess for you. A person of your caliber will never need people to right their wrongs. How smug you are. How blind you are. You do not realize that no one has come after you for your own mistakes. You do not realize that others have helped you even without your knowledge.

I try to tell you to do it in the right spirit. I try to tell you that one day, YOU will need the help of others, to clean up the mess YOU made, to right the wrongs YOU did... and what that day come (for it WILL), you will not regret having done this favour for others today. When you do something with a giving heart, it is my belief that others will pay you in kind in the future. And yet your hardened heart refuses to yield. Your arrogance prevents you from realizing the truth….

But one day you will realize.

No one ever gets far in life riding on the back of their own abilities. We will all need some sort of help some along the way.

Keep on this road, and you will find backs turn to you the day you need help the most. Keep on this road, and you will find your path to glory a lonely and hostile one. Keep on this road, and you will encounter many others like you. And the lot of you will claw and tear at each other. Who will help you then? Who will you turn to then? You will fail. Because you will realize that everyone who has ever become anyone in life got there with the support of others. Those who reached the stars did so by standing on the feet of giants; giants who despite having the strength and ability to reach for the stars, chose not to grab it for themselves, but to shoulder and support ordinary folk like you and me to reach such heights.

Oh, but you’re no ordinary folk aren’t you? Of course not, you have talent. You have intelligence. You have caliber.

Here’s news for you. I think nothing of your talents. You may think they give you a certain standing. But in my books, they count for nothing. My respect for people has little to do with how much money they have, what job they do, how well they speak, or the kind of things you have achieved. A weak man boasts to make himself look stronger than he really is. If all you can boast about is your job, or how much you’ve achieved or how much you’ve endured. I’m afraid you have shown yourself to be a very small man indeed.

People of true caliber, people of true heart never bother telling the world what they have done.. They come, they get involve, and they make things better. They don’t complain and whine about the mistakes of others. They don’t go on and one about how things should have been instead. They don’t seek glory for themselves. They bring others up. They teach, they lead, they support, they nurture. People of calibre don’t whine about not receiving enough. They just give, give and keep on giving. Their reward is in the heartfelt appreciation by others, in the priceless value of friendship and in the pride that they have had a part to play in the rise of others. Their hearts are large, and have no fear of others eclipsing them.

Those are the people I respect. Not people with talent. But people with heart, and humility….

One day you will realize that the major value in life is not what you get, but what you become. One day you will realize that to become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them.

A person as arrogant as you will never truly understand humility. Like meekness and kindness, you think humility is an attribute of the weak. And yet those who are meek, kind and humble possess a quiet, unshakable, unconquerable strength that you will never understand.

"The humbleness of a warrior is not the humbleness of the beggar. The warrior lowers his head to no one, but at the same time, he doesn't permit anyone to lower his head to him. The beggar, on the other hand, falls to his knees at the drop of a hat and scrapes the floor to anyone he deems to be higher; but at the same time, he demands that someone lower than him scrape the floor for him. - Tales of Power by Carlos Castaneda"

Which one are you?