Pride Goeth Before the Fall

 

I was writing recently about my father, concurrent with organizing the disposition of a painting I have of one of the seven deadly sins, “Vanity” by Alex Anderson.

Objectively looking at my father: Pride – he was a proud man, but not to any excess, Envy – maybe that’s why he left Detroit but not to a fault, Wrath no way not a bone in his body, Sloth likewise he was raised too well, Greed – No he was the softest touch, Gluttony again not a hint of it in his make-up, Lust Oh maybe we’ve hit upon it – that was his weak spot.

This biblical list covers everyone.  I won’t go through it again, but while I have had weak moments in many categories, Pride is my downfall.

I knew early on that I was smart, but it wasn’t until I went to college that I had to prove it.  I flunked out after two years because I thought I could just skate through to the next milestone.

Pride – Hubris - an irrationally corrupt sense of one's personal value, status or accomplishments.  But I went back, after my father’s counsel, and got straight A’s for the next three years.

Pride caught up with me again in the Army.  I was brilliant at Fort Ord, but brilliance doesn’t work in the Army, so they sent me to Heidelberg.  I was brilliant at Heidelberg, so they sent me to the computer department.

Never one for humility – my father taught me to be aggressive with what I could do.  I excelled at IBM, promoted three times before I was thirty.  But that “went to my head” as well, and IBM fired me.  They hired me back five more times.

This was to be a constant cycle.  Knocked off the perch in the bird cage, I would study, work hard, and excel at the next threshold.  The contractor’s “gig” life avoids clashes that result in firings.  I stuck with this until retirement.

The cycle has continued through retirement.  Judgement is out yet on post-life.