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Arrogance: The Expensive Trait…
Writing about arrogance is not easy. It’s tricky and it’s finicky. Why? Because arrogance is one of those traits that we recognize easily in others, but in ourselves…well that’s another matter.
Ask yourself, when was the last time you heard someone admit that they’re arrogant? Exactly, neither can I. But yet we’re prone to diagnose it in others, which bespeaks a degree of arrogance on our part. We cast out, but often neglect to sink the hook within, and therein lay the peril of arrogance.
It appears that Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) had a low tolerance for arrogance when he wrote, “It may easily come to pass that a vain man may become proud and imagine himself pleasing to all when he is in reality a universal nuisance.” Doubtless, we’ve all come across someone that fits this category, but just the same, let’s ensure it’s not us being placed in it.
Arrogance is the expensive trait. Expensive because unbeknownst to us, it reeks of lost opportunities, soured relationships, and unfulfilled wishes. The precursor to arrogance may be success, but more than naught, its descendant can be raw unmitigated disaster. Seek out any calamity, whether political, business, or military, and in the not too far distance resides arrogance with its ugly head. Empires have collapsed; businesses have imploded, and leaders have been ruined. Put Rome, Enron and Napoleon in one sentence and the cost of arrogance becomes clear.
How then do we avoid arrogance in ourselves and others? Arrogance is confidence run amok. It takes for granted those things that are, and casually expects those things yet to arrive. Arrogance primes the ego. It fuels a soul otherwise empty of gratitude, for gratitude is the great slayer of arrogance (see Gratitude: And Why It Matters…). Gratitude balances, whereas arrogance destabilizes. And it’s through gratitude that arrogance is conquered, for gratitude cannot break bread with arrogance.
Gratitude behooves a degree of modesty. It gives thanks to something more than one’s own ability. It recognizes a force, whether random or predestined, greater than our own. It recognizes that we are not the center of the universe, but a small part of a larger whole. Where arrogance doesn’t play second fiddle to anything or anyone, gratitude appreciates everything and everyone. Gratitude acknowledges that all have a role to play, direct or indirect. Arrogance thrives on stealing the show. To arrogance, it is the show.
So the next time we encounter arrogance, let us see it for what it is. And let’s be thankful that it’s not us, at least we hope…
For more, check out The C.A.T. Principle: Change, Action, Trust – Words to Live By, a Global Ebook Awards GOLD Winner for Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook of 2014, available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. See the latest Amazon reviews here. Now revised and expanded, and a Nominee for the Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook of the 2015 Global Ebook Awards.
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A 2014 Global Ebook Awards GOLD Winner for Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook.
2015 Global Ebook Awards Nominee for Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook