Pride

Almost always when I use the word pride, it’s in a negative way. But, pride is so much more than that. When Ii was playing high school athletics, we used the term “pride” to denote our loyalty to the school, the team, all that stuff the Beach Boys talked about in “Be True to Your School.” Now, when thinking of human behavior and interaction, I think of pride as a limiting mindset. People are too pride to admit they need help, or people are too proud to believe they maybe, just maybe, have made a mistake.
I’ve been house hunting lately and I see another definition of pride-the pride of ownership and care. As we drove through a neighborhood today, it was pretty obvious today was trash day. In one neighborhood, there were trash bags stacked along the street next to overflowing trash cans. Granted, it’s trash, but there’s a proper way to “display” your trash while it’s waiting to be taken to the big landfill in the sky. After exiting that subdivision, we drove through the next one down the street. Here, it was trash day, too, but all trash was in trash cans and all cans had a lid on top. There were no extras laying around, either; mattresses, old toys, bikes, etc. Little details show the mindset of the neighborhood. Neighborhoods are, after all, made up of neighbors-and I want neighbors who even take pride in the disposal of their trash. To help keep the area clean, organized and as pretty as possible(even on trash day) shows a pride that I want to find in all people, but especially in neighbors.