Learning To Love the Pride I Had Always Feared

It’s my first Pride Month & I’ve been asking what pride really means to me

Thanks to Harry Quan on Unsplash for the image

I grew up believing pride was evil.

In my youth Sunday school classes, we read story after story of people whose pride had led to their demise.

“…There is no such thing as righteous pride — it is always considered a sin. ” — President Ezra Taft Benson, former prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint.

Pride was so obviously bad that our teachers had developed a chart to help us children understand its destructive power:

Image by the author

1. Pride leads to destruction
2. Destruction (hopefully) leads to humility and repentance
3. Repentance leads to redemption and prosperity
4. Prosperity (unfortunately) leads again to pride

Even as a young boy, often distracted and always squirming on my miniature folding chair, the message from my Sunday school teachers was clear.