

What are you proud of? - Swizec
http://swizec.com/blog/what-are-you-proud-of/swizec/2620

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jgrahamc
The Turing Apology: <http://blog.jgc.org/2009/09/hello-john-its-gordon-
brown.html>

I try not to be 'proud' of things I've done because I do believe that pride
comes before a fall, but every time I see a newspaper article mention that
apology I'm reminded that I did that.

~~~
singular
That's a pretty amazing thing to accomplish!! Thank you.

What's especially nice about it is that it concerns righting the wrongs done
to [the memory of] another person. I think helping other people has to be
worth a lot more than any entirely technical accomplishment.

------
Okvivi
I think it's really important to feel proud of what you do. For me, I always
like to feel I'm the center of the world, while knowing that it's not true.

When people ask me what I'm proud of I always list the stuff that gave me most
satisfaction. I often start with the stuff that they would understand or heard
of, but if you'd ask me again I'd probably list some obscure stuff.

For example, I am really proud that I started the online version of the
Romanian Computer Science olympiad for high school students. I convinced
people to let me build a parallel online system where we'd post the problems
at the same time with the real contest, and people would submit solutions by
the end of the allocated time, and then we'd grade those too. Totally
unofficial, just for kicks and training.

It's a stupid thing that nobody ever heard of here, but I'm still terribly
proud of it, it made a huge difference in the life of some kids and it would
not have happened if it wasn't for me, so I'm quite proud of that.

~~~
michaelty
Kudos to you for making the world a little bit better.

------
ahoyhere
There's a huge difference between healthy pride and unhealthy vanity.

For starters, pride can come from things you didn't even do -- and people who
are not you. You can be proud of your kid. You can be proud of your student.
You can be proud of your husband, wife, boyfriend/girlfriend, parents,
friends, etc.

It's good to be proud when people you care about accomplish something they
struggled with, something difficult, something important.

And, you are a person you care about. (Or at least, you should be.)

Pride means giving yourself credit where credit is due. In enjoying the things
you worked hard to achieve.

Nowhere in the dictionary definition of "pride" will you find "holding
yourself above other people, thinking you're better than them and better than
Creation, blah blah blah."

Vanity, on the other hand, is defined as _excessive_ pride. We've all known
vainglorious jerks who had excessive pride.

And we've also all known people who were good people, who did good work, who
worked hard, who did hard things -- who had insufficient pride, who didn't
give themselves enough credit, who wrote off all their accomplishments and
generally made themselves (and the people who loved them & wanted the best for
them) miserable.

I'm honestly shocked that (at writing) the 2 top-level comments on this
article are "Pride is a sin" and "I try not to be 'proud' of things I've
done".

Where's the evidence that pride is bad, guys? Do you have something other than
the Bible to back you up?

~~~
wollw
I essentially agree with you but it _is_ important to understand that pride
has its failings, even without being what I would consider excessive. By being
proud you put yourself in the position of having your pride wounded. This is
distinct from lacking pride somewhat like lacking feeling while having surgery
if different than having to feel every cut. On the other hand, pride can be
_very_ important in giving the self-confidence and motivation needed to
improve oneself and one's skills.

~~~
ahoyhere
You're taking the word "pride" and talking about it as if it were a physical
thing that really exists.

"Wounded pride" is something that can happen to anyone, regardless of whether
they give themselves credit for their achievements. "Wounded pride" really
means "wounded self-image" -- everybody has a self-image, regardless of how
good or bad it is.

~~~
wollw
Maybe my understanding of pride is flawed but let me put it another way. By
holding an opinion or expectation of oneself (or another) you're setting
yourself up for disappointment in the case that the opinion or expectation is
challenged. If I pride myself as highly knowledgeable in some field and
someone comes along and points out all the flaws in my knowledge then it's
probably going to hurt. If I _don't_ pride myself on this sort of knowledge
then it won't force me to reconsider my self-view in the same way. The flip
side being that if I pride myself on this sort of knowledge that very pride
may be the impetus that makes me actually go out and learn the things I don't
know.

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bittermang
I'm not.

Pride is a sin.

I found it curious that in the unofficial ranking of the seven deadly sins,
pride was considered the worst. How could this be? Pride worse than greed?
Than wrath? It didn't add up.

Then I looked at the rationale behind it. Pride puts ones self before god. It
says that my accomplishments, my work, my existence, is greater than all of
creation. And that line of thinking can actually fuel the remaining six sins.
Pride can lead to greed. Pride can cause you to rest slothfully upon your
laurels.

I'm not a religious man, but that rationale has always resonated with me.

~~~
raganwald
I don't think you or anybody else has an insight into what pride means to me.
I don't think you can walk around saying that when I say I'm prod of writing,
or my work, or my children, or anything else that I'm putting myself before
your God or anything else in creation. I don't agree that pride fuels greed,
and I don't think you've made any kind of rational case that pride causes
anyone to become slothful.

I'm ok with you believing that pride is harmful for you personally, but the
sweeping generalizations you draw are woefully devoid of evidence of rational
thinking on the subject.

