2/14/08
A Culture of Arrogance
There is something horrible in our world today. It has been bothering me lately, niggling at the back of my mind, wanting explanation.
Today, I (somewhat) sorted it out. I was dealing with a rather difficult pair of customers, and I tend to sum people up as I'm listening to them. The only word that I could hear in my mind was:
"Arrogant!"
.... which they were. The man had the audacity to think that I would repair, for free, a watch that he had purchased elsewhere, the woman demanded the use of one of our tools that was sitting out of her reach, and together they accounted for my worst customer experience of this week.
I drove home behind a pick-up truck labeling me as an obscenity if I didn't appreciate that particular driver's mode of traveling.
After work, I watched a short newsclip in which an unnamed eyebrowless presidential candidate shot off his mouth about something or other, all the while wearing this grin that made my teeth set on edge.
Later that evening I indulged in my usual guilty pleasure of reading all of the help columns, such as Dear Abby, Annie's Mailbox, and Dear Margo. Something about reading the sob stories of others makes my own pathetic life seem not quite so wretched. One story after another marches across my weary vision, stories of broken marriages, ungrateful children, and unrepentant family members. Not one person is taking blame for an ugly situation, they all want to pin it on others and make them pay for their suffering.
We are living in an age of arrogance. Pride- not the good kind- mocks us from the covers of magazines, brazenly struts across our television and computer screens, and taunts us from every media outlet imaginable. We have come so far from humility that generations of children do not even know what humility is.
People in this day abuse power and laugh over it, steal other peoples' jobs, spouses, and assets and feel no shame, and admit not a single shortcoming or character flaw. To be selfish is good, to be arrogant is normal. How have we allowed society to degrade this way?
I know that arrogance is nothing new. Many evils throughout history have been perpetrated solely from sheer pride. But I really feel that it is becoming epidemic. No one puts misbehaved children in their place anymore, and the children grow up into rebellious monsters. No one takes responsibility for screw-ups anymore, and the liability lawsuit industry costs industrialized nations billions of dollars a year. People allow themselves to have a roving eye- I personally have heard women say that they deserve to cheat on a loving spouse- and the divorce rates soar.
What has happened to us? Is it the shift from religion to humanism? Humanism is a self-centric philosophy, whereas religion tends to be theistic, centering on one or more beings, or others. Humanism is actually, in my opinion, the religion of self, of mankind. How can one project compassion- genuinely- onto another when all one has at heart is the good of himself? Maybe this is not a good theory, for I find arrogance to be almost more prevalent among religious people than anyone else lately. But look at our churches now- rather than preach contrition and absolution, we preach self-esteem and affirmation. We are a people fat on the empty praise of our culture, drunk on the insignificant contributions we have made to our little selfish worlds.
Arrogance strips us of true compassion, blinds us to the faults within ourselves, and sears our consciences. Arrogance is as much in the soul of the unrepentant criminal as it is in the smiling politician on your television.
I don't have a solution to offer. The only thing that I can do is try to remember to be humble, to raise my girls free of the 'princess' mindset, and to do as much good for others as I can in this short life. The only thing that I can hope to impact the world through is this measly blog posting. And I say this to you- as much for me as for anyone- check yourselves for pride today. Search your heart and try to weed out any thought that puts you above another human being. Learn to serve, learn to be quiet, learn to not mock. Find meekness, find humility.
I'll be right there beside you, and maybe together we'll learn how to make the world a little bit better of a place.
Today, I (somewhat) sorted it out. I was dealing with a rather difficult pair of customers, and I tend to sum people up as I'm listening to them. The only word that I could hear in my mind was:
"Arrogant!"
.... which they were. The man had the audacity to think that I would repair, for free, a watch that he had purchased elsewhere, the woman demanded the use of one of our tools that was sitting out of her reach, and together they accounted for my worst customer experience of this week.
I drove home behind a pick-up truck labeling me as an obscenity if I didn't appreciate that particular driver's mode of traveling.
After work, I watched a short newsclip in which an unnamed eyebrowless presidential candidate shot off his mouth about something or other, all the while wearing this grin that made my teeth set on edge.
Later that evening I indulged in my usual guilty pleasure of reading all of the help columns, such as Dear Abby, Annie's Mailbox, and Dear Margo. Something about reading the sob stories of others makes my own pathetic life seem not quite so wretched. One story after another marches across my weary vision, stories of broken marriages, ungrateful children, and unrepentant family members. Not one person is taking blame for an ugly situation, they all want to pin it on others and make them pay for their suffering.
We are living in an age of arrogance. Pride- not the good kind- mocks us from the covers of magazines, brazenly struts across our television and computer screens, and taunts us from every media outlet imaginable. We have come so far from humility that generations of children do not even know what humility is.
People in this day abuse power and laugh over it, steal other peoples' jobs, spouses, and assets and feel no shame, and admit not a single shortcoming or character flaw. To be selfish is good, to be arrogant is normal. How have we allowed society to degrade this way?
I know that arrogance is nothing new. Many evils throughout history have been perpetrated solely from sheer pride. But I really feel that it is becoming epidemic. No one puts misbehaved children in their place anymore, and the children grow up into rebellious monsters. No one takes responsibility for screw-ups anymore, and the liability lawsuit industry costs industrialized nations billions of dollars a year. People allow themselves to have a roving eye- I personally have heard women say that they deserve to cheat on a loving spouse- and the divorce rates soar.
What has happened to us? Is it the shift from religion to humanism? Humanism is a self-centric philosophy, whereas religion tends to be theistic, centering on one or more beings, or others. Humanism is actually, in my opinion, the religion of self, of mankind. How can one project compassion- genuinely- onto another when all one has at heart is the good of himself? Maybe this is not a good theory, for I find arrogance to be almost more prevalent among religious people than anyone else lately. But look at our churches now- rather than preach contrition and absolution, we preach self-esteem and affirmation. We are a people fat on the empty praise of our culture, drunk on the insignificant contributions we have made to our little selfish worlds.
Arrogance strips us of true compassion, blinds us to the faults within ourselves, and sears our consciences. Arrogance is as much in the soul of the unrepentant criminal as it is in the smiling politician on your television.
I don't have a solution to offer. The only thing that I can do is try to remember to be humble, to raise my girls free of the 'princess' mindset, and to do as much good for others as I can in this short life. The only thing that I can hope to impact the world through is this measly blog posting. And I say this to you- as much for me as for anyone- check yourselves for pride today. Search your heart and try to weed out any thought that puts you above another human being. Learn to serve, learn to be quiet, learn to not mock. Find meekness, find humility.
I'll be right there beside you, and maybe together we'll learn how to make the world a little bit better of a place.
Labels: arrogance, compassion, culture, divorce, fault, hope, humanism, moral decay, pride, society
