{"id":5332,"date":"2026-08-28T09:38:48","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T09:38:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5332"},"modified":"2026-08-28T09:38:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T09:38:48","slug":"because-pride-goeth-before-the-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5332","title":{"rendered":"Because Pride Goeth Before the Fall"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

One of our culture\u2019s dispiriting trends since the 1960s has been a growing insistence that one be proud of this or that superficial quality or demographic label. I recall the 1968 Olympics, when Tommie Smith and John Carlos stood at the podium, having won the Gold and Bronze, respectively, in the men\u2019s 200-meter sprint. As an American 10-year-old, I was proud of my countrymen for the feat. But the athletes had a statement to make and will be forever remembered for the \u201cBlack Power salute\u201d on the Olympic podium, and not their tremendous athletic prowess. I remember something else, though: when Howard Cosell later asked Smith if he was proud to be an American, the elite runner responded that he was proud to be a black American. Both, question and answer, bothered me.<\/p>

Read more Socialism and New York City\u2019s Housing Crisis<\/a><\/p>\n

At times, my memory is too good. Finishing up my 68th trip around the sun, I nonetheless recall my potty training. It was then that I learned what it meant to be proud. \u201cAre you proud of me?\u201d I would ask when it came time for my mom or dad to attend to the necessary hygienic details. It never failed to elicit an affirmative reply. And it, in turn, made me proud of\u2026 ahem\u2026 my accomplishment.<\/p>\n

As I grew, my parents instructed me on the finer points of both hygiene and pride. The former took care of itself without much fanfare, as you might imagine. I found the latter, though, to be far more complicated. They told me, for example, that it was not at all a bad thing to be proud of my big brother when he was elected president of his high school student body. And it was admirable to be proud of my remarkably athletic sister when she excelled on the softball field. But neither my brother nor my sister, they told me, should express pride in themselves for those accomplishments.<\/p>\n

By the time I reached the 1st grade, I was a thoroughly confused five-year-old when it came to pride. It didn\u2019t help that I was big for my age and excelled at tetherball. I recall a night when I felt awfully proud of myself and eagerly shared my schoolyard exploits at the dinner table. My bragging flopped with my big brother, as we were raised by the same people. For my first true lesson in humility, he led me to the backyard tetherball set. My brother was in college by then and stood 6\u20192\u201d. In retrospect, it was more a lesson in humiliation than humility. But he made his point. Unless you\u2019re the future King David, it\u2019s pretty easy to get over yourself when you face an opponent who\u2019s two feet taller.<\/p>\n

The lesson has stayed with me.<\/p>\n

In my suburban, public high school in the 1970s, I scratched my head when we would cry out at rallies before football games that we were proud to be Trojans — and my class was particularly proud to be \u201cThe Spirit of [19]76.\u201d In college, a dear friend had a \u201cProud to Be Danish\u201d bumper sticker, which I would have confronted her over if I hadn\u2019t been soft on her. A local car wash sold similar bumper stickers for just about every imaginable nationality. On the freeway to work a few years later, I would see a veritable United Nations of commuters crawling to Los Angeles each morning. Years later, for several months after 9\/11, \u201cProud American\u201d became a popular message to proclaim on the roadways. Caught up in the protective and aggressive feelings of the day, I would genially look upon those drivers as fellow travelers, so to speak. But I never bought the sticker.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/figure>\nMy oldest living son is now 35. During his college years at UCLA, where he graduated with honors, and for several years beyond, he worked as a model in Los Angeles, New York, and Singapore. It\u2019s not difficult from that sentence to figure out that he was born with intelligence and good looks. I would tell him frequently that I was proud of him, but that it wasn\u2019t due to his native intellect or his physical attractiveness. \u201cYou had absolutely nothing to do with those things,\u201d I\u2019d remind him. \u201cIt\u2019s your character that counts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back to 1968, why did Cosell\u2019s question to Smith bother me?<\/p>\n

Glad to be an American? We should be giddy. Fortunate to be American? Blessed beyond measure. Grateful? When not taking it for granted, tearfully so. Love America? Zealously! But proud? It sounds somehow impertinent, but I am proud of our founders. I am proud of countless American heroes, military, civic, and some unsung. But I had absolutely nothing to do with the circumstances or geography of my birth, so no.<\/p>

Read more The British Nanny State: No Guns Allowed<\/a><\/p>\n

One might assume a case is made here for the non-native citizen, for at least they often worked like dogs for their good fortune. But like the rest of us, they had nothing to do with creating the system — a miraculously-crafted interweaving of federalism and separation of powers, recognizing that inherent <\/em>rights cannot be withheld by a government that did not create them. In this, native and immigrant are co-heirs, beneficiaries of a trust that has now lasted a quarter of a millennium.<\/p>\n

My misgivings were reawakened recently, upon hearing Lee Greenwood\u2019s \u201cProud to Be an American\u201d — a song that always assures me I\u2019m with kindred spirits, but leaves me hollow. How about \u201cHumbled to be an American\u201d? I know the meter is wrong and all, but it is so much more in keeping with the spirit of [17]76.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s conversation, we have \u201cpride flags,\u201d \u201cpride month,\u201d \u201cpride marches,\u201d and \u201cpride parades.\u201d There\u2019s a Pride Library and \u201cpride\/proud\u201d cable channels. Except for the Texas Rangers, every team in Major League Baseball has a \u201cpride night\u201d each summer. A certain subculture is absolutely lousy with pride.<\/p>\n

In response to these ubiquitous displays, an entrepreneur in my town, Mark Fitzpatrick, tried to fight fire with fire. A couple of Junes ago, the Old State Street Saloon began a tongue-in-cheek \u201cHeterosexual Awesomeness Month.\u201d Had he used \u201cPride\u201d instead of \u201cAwesomeness,\u201d I might not have patronized his establishment, but the word choice — not to mention a free beer on Mondays in June for those of us who aren\u2019t\u2026 well\u2026 too proud — worked as an invitation I couldn\u2019t resist. Sadly, Fitzpatrick is now selling the saloon. The opposition has made it too cumbersome — between what he describes as \u201cregulatory pressure, lawfare, legal threats, and worse\u201d — he doesn\u2019t want the business to be used against him as \u201cleverage.\u201d I am sure his foes are proud.<\/p>\n

In Mere Christianity<\/em>, C.S. Lewis wrote, \u201cThe essential vice, the utmost evil, is pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison. It was through pride that the devil became the devil. Pride leads to every other vice; it is the complete anti-God state of mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lewis was, as usual, absolutely spot on.<\/p>\n

Some readers who have made it this far may already be composing rebuttals, urging that my argument takes this anti-pride thing too far. Maybe they had one of the bumper stickers. Maybe they love Lee Greenwood\u2019s anthem. Maybe they think it\u2019s all just semantics.<\/p>

Read more Smithsonian employee advises Catholics in NCR column to pray to \u2018transgender\u2019 saints, smears Joan of Arc as a \u2018cross-dresser\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

And some are likely blaming my potty training.<\/p>\n

Paul O\u2019Brien, a retired California lawyer, lives in Eagle, Idaho.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of our culture\u2019s dispiriting trends since the 1960s has been a growing insistence that one be proud of this or that superficial quality or demographic label. I recall the 1968 Olympics, when Tommie Smith and John Carlos stood at the podium, having won the Gold and Bronze, respectively, in the men\u2019s 200-meter sprint. 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