Chreia's, Maxim's and the Persuasive Essay

Pride Goes Before Destruction a Haughty Spirit Before a Fall

This verse speaks on the delicate subject of pride, which is a difficult matter to broach and an even harder one to address. It speaks truth in a concise yet meaningful way, a beacon for everyday life, warning us away from the jagged bluffs of pride on sin's coastline.

The saying points out that an obstinate soul will fell itself, even if it is the tallest; an audacious will, will turn the most athletic of men to a puny stumblebum.

Now we shall see, through a humorous example, this is the result of letting position and pride go to your head. A dog stood in front of the Weakest Of Obfuscated Failures (WOOF) convention. He stood muttering to himself, "I can't believe... Focus! You can do this." Reaching the podium he said, "Dogs of all races, barks and creeds, I welcome you to the WOOF convention, I furthermore want to thank you for selecting me as your leader..." 4892 1/2 words later he continued, "And in celebration of my election, I want to invite you all to the house of my master for a social!!!" The Dogs went wild, for they (being the most obfuscated of obfuscated failures) had never been to something as formal as a social. But in this the Leader had overdone himself, for in his pride he had not thought of what his master would think, and when his master arrived home, he regretted every moment he had let his pride run out of control. Dogs were thrown out windows, kicked out doors, and the most obfuscated of them all even kicked himself out the door! The dog was banned for life from WOOF, and regretted his pride and rash decisions, for therein lay the hand that fell him.

What should he have done? Let us look to his successor for that answer. This Leader was concise. He opened the next session, "Fellow Dogs, the dogs of bone, and of ball, of food, and of water..." he continued on, naming guilds; then he addressed the issues at hand. In all of this, he took only as much time as needed, no more, no less. Soon the dogs were begging another social, and he gravely stared down at them, "Do you wish to remain under my leadership?" He kept a small dose of his Pride, as is sane, but left the rest untouched, and the WOOF convention attendees knew that. This was a Dog whose wisdom led them many years.

Now that we have ended our little story, let us move to a less jocular example. Our pride is like a bomb which is planted as a terrorist attack in a public place. It is ticking down as people evacuate and the bomb squad comes in. If not diffused it will lead to massive chaos and destruction, not to mention death. Our pride is like that bomb... it ticks down to hurting others and/or ourselves if not diffused. So pray to God that he destroy your pride, lest it raze you in it's onset.

Think now on Hitler, the infamous warlord that started WWII. He had control of a large world power, (Germany). He was proud enough to claim that the Jewish race was an inferior species, and was trying to destroy them. This started a World War, WWII. At the end of the war, when his forces started to crumble, he realized his impending doom, and made swift action against it; drastic action. On April 30, 1945, Hitler and his newly wed wife were found in a room. She had ingested Cyanide, He was found with a Cyanide pill in his mouth, a bullet in his brain. They had made the ultimate end to their foreseen imprisonment, death. His pride led to greed, his greed to failure, and his failure to death. His fall brought down his wife. Yours may bring your loved ones down as well.

"Pride is still aiming at the best houses: Men would be angels, angels would be gods. Aspiring to be gods, if angels fell; aspiring to be angels men rebel." Alexander Pope, perhaps, was right in saying this, for it seems as if our pride would have us wanting more than given us. Perhaps we have all we need. Perhaps we are better than we deserve. Perhaps we should be content with just enough, and anything more should be a blessing! Sometimes we rebel for something that ends up not being worth the cost, just because our pride won't let us forgive or forget. Our pride can destroy things in the process of aiming for something higher. Usually that higher thing isn't worth the cost of the thing destroyed.

Now I reach out, a sinful child to a prideful race. Put down your pride and listen to me, you cannot serve two masters. You must choose, abolish your pride and avoid your destruction! For even if it comes not in this dimension, it will come in the next, where there is no returning, regretting, or redoing.