Pride and Humility's First and Last Conversation.

                                                   By Brent Stone

            There is a country called the land of Allegory. Perhaps you have visited it.  It is as far away as your imagination and as near as your favorite book or Internet website. Many great stories have come from this mythical and intriguing place. Now the stories from the land of Allegory are very good as far as helping people to understand certain timeless truths, which, more often than not are related to truths from the Bible. An example of a tale from the land of Allegory would be Pilgrim's Progress and more importantly, the parables of Jesus.  An example of a short story from the Land of Allegory would be about a conversation between two literary characters known as Pride and Humility.          

            Now Pride and Humility are as different as night and day. They way these two individuals walk and talk is different. Their body language is different. The way they treat others is different. They had never actually met face to face except once, and ever after, they avoided each other with Pride going to greater trouble to avoid Humility. Humility merely preferred to avoid Pride’s company. But after this conversation, Pride went to great lengths to avoid running into Humility again.

            Some say that Pride cannot blind his victims in Humility's presence, and one of the first things Pride always does to his unfortunate prey is to blind them. His victims can still see where they are going, but they do lose a significant power of discernment, which they regain when Humility heals them. Others say that Pride avoids Humility because Humility had revealed Pride's ultimate fate. Others say that Humility, as gentle, kind, and disarming as he was, had left Pride speechless. It was even stranger when you consider that Pride calls himself a master, but Humility is a servant.

            Humility's clothes were tasteful, well made and kept in neat order. You could not say that the world of fashion would have any kind words for Humility's clothes. Any person who was into fads or fashion would immediately notice that Pride had very fine and fashionable clothes. Both had a beautiful smile, but there was quite a bit of calculation in Pride's smile if you managed to see him before he said anything. Pride walked with a healthy stride and his hand was always open to any who would pass his way. There was usually a sort of put on flourish and polish in the way that he spoke.

            Depending on his victims, he sometimes expressed himself with grand articulate words. He knew that this sort of lingo would help him deceive some people but not others. And he was always looking for something with which to compliment his hearers with. If the person was strong and well built, then Pride was sure to mention it in a casual yet flattering sort of way. Humility also shook anyone's hand with a simple disarming smile as they passed by.  Humility had a close relative whose name was Wisdom, and Wisdom would often give Humility good advice. As a result, Humility would be sensible to how people talked so that when he replied, they would be able to relate to him.

            Humility was also quick to notice details and respond in kind. If someone had a fine garden, he would compliment him or her on it and then remark on how God had blessed him or her with a green thumb. If someone were playing an uplifting tune on the lute, Humility would comment on the ear for music that they had been blessed with. On the first meeting, it would be hard not to like Humility or Pride if you did not know whom the latter was. And although Humility was a servant, from the way some people treated him after they had met him, he might have been mistaken for royalty. 

            As for Pride, there were some who at first thought that he might be royalty from the way he acted. It might seem strange that Pride and Humility had met at all, but since they did not know what the other looked like, they did not at first know for sure whom the other was. Therefore, they could hardly avoid each other if they were on the same road as they were on this day. Upon seeing Pride approach, Humility had a slightly cautious expression on his face after he noticed Pride's body language.  They were coming in opposite directions as they met at a crossroad. And since they were both friendly at first, each hand was outstretched to shake the other.  It was a little while until the truth came out as to who they were although Humility did not try to conceal who he was.

Humility: Good morning to you sir!

Pride: A good morning to you too!

Humility: It looks like you have been walking for a while. I hope you find some shade at some point on your journey.

Pride: Ah, thank you. I ah...hope you find some shade too.

While tasteful, Humility's clothes were not fancy and Pride looked for something he could compliment Humility on before coming up with a generic compliment since he could think of nothing else with which to butter up this stranger. Pride, unlike some of his victims was very discerning and he had a suspicious as to who this stranger might happen to be.

Pride: Well, you seem to be a cheerful person. I would rather be around cheerful people such as yourself than anyone else. Where are you headed?

Humility: Thank you. I have nothing to complain about and am very content.

Pride: Well, ah...you don't meet many people who feel that way.

Humility: As to your question, I am headed to a patient that I must see.

Pride: Oh, so you are a Doctor? How interesting! I would not have guessed. You do not dress like a doctor. What is wrong with your patient?

Humility: Well, although they can see where they are going in the short term, most of my patients have a problem with their eyesight, and they are usually not aware of it.

Pride: How do you have patients who don't know they have a problem?

Humility: Well, it is a tough business. I can see problems in my patients that they can't see. I tell my patients the kinds of things they do not want or like to hear about regarding themselves. Of course, I try to be as kind and as tactful as I can.

Pride: I have never heard of a Doctor doing things like that.

Humility: Well, my appointed mission is to help my patients see clearly. My master has directed me to...

Pride: Make your victims feel bad about themselves. I think I know who you are!

Humility: You would be Pride, correct?

Pride: And you must be Humility.

Humility: That is correct. I have met Pride before, but it was not you. May I ask your first name?

Pride: I have no intention of telling you my first name.

Humility: Well the Pride I met, his first name was positive.

Pride: Oh, I cannot stand him!

Humility: Are you related to him?

Pride: He is a long lost cousin, removed an infinite number of times, and I prefer him to be long lost.

Humility: Oh. Well why is that? (Humility asked though he already knew the answer.)

Pride: Well, unlike my lovely cousin Vanity, he never cooperates with me.

Humility: Let me guess. When someone finishes writing a song, or mastering an instrument, or ploughing a field, or carving a chair or cooking a meal, or cleaning something, Positive Pride gives them the joy of the feeling of completion without the arrogance and selfish pride that sometimes come with it. People need to feel accomplishment without becoming conceited, and Positive Pride does this without the person getting a big head. For me on the other hand, it is a matter of helping those who already are conceited and have a big head. That is the kind of Doctor I am. 

Pride: So you are the one who goes around giving sight to those I have blinded. Now I know who it is that is undoing all my hard work.

Humility: I should think that making people think much more highly of themselves than they should...or blinding them would be easy for you.

Pride: Oh it is easy, unless someone goes around making him or her see again.  Because of their fallen nature, making people think much more highly of themselves than they should is easy, but there you go, making them feel bad about themselves! Shame on you!

Humility: The point is not to make them feel bad. The point is to help them to see themselves as they are. People in need of the saving grace of my master.

Pride: If there is one I could say hate, it is your master! He is worse than you! Once they truly love him (Pride shudders) any power I have over them is gone! I can never convince them without a lot of effort to think more highly of themselves than they should.

Humility: If they are happy in the love and salvation of God, then the need to think of themselves more highly than they should no longer means anything to them. And, God is not unmindful of their need to use their talents for something useful and fulfilling.

Pride: How pathetic! And yet I intend to keep blinding them with all my strength! Don't think that I am someone to be underestimated!

Humility: Indeed. You are someone who is not to be underestimated.

Pride: Well said. While you are a servant, I am a master! I, Pride, have overcome the highest created being,” he replied with a smug expression. “I caused him to dupe his underlings, to become a murderer, an insurrectionist and a tyrant! Once I have lifted my victim's heart up in self-glory and pride, they will reject love, reason and your master!

Humility: You said it well. These are the sorts of things I tell my patients, and sometimes it jolts them enough to fear you. And yet, you would not dare to tell your intended prey such things in their hearing.

Pride: Why of course! If I told them what I just told you before I had blinded them, most of them would run for the hills. Now blinding is a most fun process for me, and it begins innocently! You see, I get them to think about themselves rather than your master! Unlike you (Pride rolls his eyes in disgust), they are very susceptible to compliments, and the more the better. It is my intent that they will never know how much they need a savior, and the more proud they are, the more contempt they will have at the idea that they need to be saved.  I use this to my advantage! Blindness creeps in as I carefully encourage one compliment after another.

Humility: Compliments are not bad if used for the right motive or like salt on food. When some people really need encouragement, it can help. You can see some examples in the last part of this book. (Humility brings out a Bible.)

Pride: Ah, put that away! (Pride replied with a start) If ever there was a book I hated, it is that one!

Humility: Oh, you don't like this book? (Humility replied innocently offering it to Pride.)

Pride: I said I hated that book. Some of my prey who have read it no longer trust me!

Humility: Wise of them. But in the last part of this book, my Master thought it fitting to recognize and compliment the efforts and diligence of those who had strived against the world for His sake. But the motive there was encouragement and love, not to fan the flame of conceit.

Pride: Your master always works at cross-purposes with me! If anyone ever had a reason to be proud it was Him, but he never even looked my way. He ignored me completely, “ Pride fumed with clenched fists. “But I am consoled by the fact that I have the advantage over you! Because of people's fallen nature, they will understand me better than you. And in every respect, I am greater than you.

Humility: Well, I could care less about greatness,” Humility replied with a lighthearted laugh.” It is not going to make me happier in the long run, nor is it going to make me more content. Like those whom I have helped, love for the Lord eclipses and replaces any desire for greatness apart from a desire for the greatness of my master's Kingdom.  And as far as greatness goes, I Humility will never have an end, while you, Pride will have an end,” Humility replied in a mild tone.

Pride: And how could you know that!

Humility: You do not have much knowledge about a book you have said you hated. This information is in this book in my hand.  But let me ask you a question that I have been wondering about. Where did you come from?

Pride smiled with a smirk and a roll of his eyes.

Pride: I was born in the mind of the highest created being along with Jealously who, incidentally, is a very close friend of mine. I started out small in his mind. For a while, not even he understood who I was, since I had never existed until that time. Well...I grew and grew in strength, feeding his mind with grandiose thoughts of himself which he eagerly gulped. Like a drug, I grew strong in him, prompting him to strike out on his own. Not long after I was born, another helper was born in his mind, and that helper is called Bitterness. When the brothers Pride and Bitterness team up, there is no end to the misery and destruction we can cause, and oh, the untold woe to follow, both in the grand scheme and in the lives of our victims.” At this point Pride related this information as if in dreamland. Then, Pride came out of his reverie and continued. “I offered motivation for rebellion and when the time came that this being could have decided that he would obey your Master, Bitterness and I advised him against it, and he followed my lead. Ever since then, whenever we can, Bitterness, Jealousy and I have worked together to blind as many people as we can, because we hate your master! To a degree, I am his master.

Humility: That is interesting in a morbid kind of way. I pity your…‘victims,’ as you call them.

Pride: The word ‘pity,’ is not in my vocabulary. I have never been able to understand such a ridiculous concept. To me, entertaining or acting on the concept of ‘pity,’ is more akin to stupidity than anything else, but it seems to be one of your chief attributes, so go figure. To be so predicable…if I had not been inclined to scorn you before, I certainly am now. How did you become so pathetic and ridiculous?   

Humility: As for me, I have always existed which is something of a conundrum to people. My master has always existed, and if anyone ever had reason to be exalted, it is Him, and yet I have always been his friend in the allegorical sense, just as I always am, and will always be a friend to man in the same sense. I, Humility, am a friend to man. Because I am part of my master's character, I have always existed. And His book here says that your accomplice, once known as Lucifer who became an accuser and destroyer, will have an end. Thus, in a literal and allegorical sense, you will cease to exist also.

Pride: High words for someone who is losing more patients than he is healing. And yet I will continue unimpeded for the present to blind as many people for as long as I can!

Humility: And I will continue to heal them with the power of my Masters, Jesus Christ and His father. For someone who talks about greatness, your work is temporary while mine is everlasting in the strength of my master.  I don't think there can be anything more to be said between us. Adieu. 

And with that, Humility, walked on while Pride, with his head drooping, tried to think of something to say. And Pride ever after, because he could not say anything to counter the reasoning of Humility, avoided him like the plague. Pride's life in the grand scheme of things, was to be short, while Humility had no beginning and would have no end.  So while Pride was a temporary master and Humility an everlasting servant, Humility was greater than Pride. And in the allegorical sense, Humility is our friend, sent to us from God to help take away our blindness.  Are we asking God for Humility? This allegorical friend will help us to see ourselves, as we are...people in need of the grace of God. To help us realize our desperate need of the Savior. 

From teaching English to teaching about kindness…

           

I have learned that there is a time in the life of an ESL teacher living in South Korea, where one is tempted to think that the sparkle and novelty of living in a foreign country will never lose its charm. When the charm did fade, I learned that I had to make a serious effort to sabotage any perception that teaching English had become a humdrum cycle or had taken on a mundane candor. I refuse to classify these sentiments as fact. Something that is a fact is the positive effect I can have on my students. One of the greatest reminders that I am doing something important, even if being an expat does not contribute to this sentiment anymore, is making a difference in the lives of my middle school students. There is a humorous saying in South Korea that the reason that North Korea’s army has not attacked is because they are afraid of the notoriously difficult to manage middle school students. Remaining positive has often been a struggle.

But there is an encouraging quality in God’s ability to surprise you and banish the idea that what you are doing is humdrum and mundane. I do not want to give lip service to the idea that I love all my students. I want to love them all. Of course, there are some who are easier to love than others. After living overseas for almost 2 and half years at a time, the charm and positive aspects of living here gets some serious competition with my desire to return to, or at least visit the USA. But even in the face of such fierce competition between living in Korea and visiting America, the positive changes in my student’s lives are a serious draw, and my desire to show them the love of God is sometimes a challenge. A lot of good experiences were not based on the fact that I was in a foreign country, but in the fact that lives were changed for the better. And my having a hand in that is gratifying. I am reminded of a 2nd grade student (7th grade in America) whom I will call Sophie. I was her English teacher for 3 semesters, and I can’t say I ever saw a smile from her. Distain, frustration, boredom, disgust, inhibition and apathy are some accurate adjectives that I could use to describe her actions and facial expressions while she was in my class. She was a smart student, and although lacking in motivation to learn English, she tried to challenge my knowledge of English several times. Just last semester, I found out that she would be my student for a 3rd semester in a row, and I thought, how unfortunate can I be? She made no effort to hide her annoyance at being in my class a third time. Well, her disgust at this development was very obvious, and for a while I despaired of a way to reach her. 

Yes, I wanted her to learn English, but more importantly, I wanted to impact her in a positive and lasting way. While I am an English teacher, I am first a classroom manager and a student motivator. If I can manage and motivate, then I have a good chance of not only teaching English, but in reaching my students on a deeper and hopefully a more spiritual level. Then, one day, my chance with Sophie came in an unexpected way. A class rule is that students cannot speak any Korean.

I have lots of scratch paper, and students are free to write in Korean if they want, but speaking must be in English. Well, Sophie and her friend asked for scratch paper. Another less vocal rule is that students need to put their trash in the trash can. Throughout the class, I noticed that Sophie was discreetly drawing something on the piece of paper. When Sophie left, I could see that the piece of paper was gone. After the students had left, I looked in the desk that Sophie and many other students used, and I could see some trash there.

I pulled it out, and discovered that is was the scratch paper Sophie had written on, shredded into tiny pieces of paper. Well, I was so curious that later, I painstakingly put the tiny pieces together with tape. On one side in Sophie’s handwriting and with her name written on it, was a very unflattering picture of me along with some expletives. While I was not really offended or pleased with what I have pieced together, I realized that this was a way to reach her. So I took a picture of it on my phone. Then I copied the scratch paper I had pieced together and I cut it to the same size and shape as the scratch paper. I then put it in her homeroom locker and kept the matter to myself until the end of the semester. The next class period, Sophie’s behavior was different. She could not know for certain that I had put it there, but she was not rude, just very reserved and almost robotic. From time to time she made nervous glances in my direction. For all she knew, I could send the picture to her parent’s phone, her homeroom teacher’s phone or report it to the principle. For that semester, I did not give any indication that I was the person who had put the paper in her locker.

On the last day, I called her aside after the other students had left. When I showed her the paper, she denied that she had written it. However, when I pointed to her handwriting and her name on the paper, it ended any verbal defense. I then told her that I could send the picture on my phone to her parents, her homeroom teacher or the principle. I could see that she seemed to be at the end of her rope. She did not dare to be rude or cynical now and she expected me to turn her in, so to speak. So then, I went to the trash can and brought it over, along with a pair of scissors. At this, Sophie looked very confused.

I handed her the scissors and the scratch paper and told her to cut it up into the trash can. With wide eyes, she cut up the scratch paper, her expression showing she could hardly believe what was happening. Then I handed her my phone and asked her to delete the picture of the scratch paper. When she did, there was a hope in her eyes I had never seen before. Then she handed my phone back to me and I told her that no one would know what she had done. I also told that I was her English teacher, but now, I was teaching her about kindness. Then she gave me a beautiful genuine smile. At that point, I knew that I had won her over…with kindness. It is experiences like this one that brighten up my day. It is the joy of making a positive impact in the lives of people like Sophie, which make up for the feelings homesickness I sometimes feel. Why do I come back for more? I guess I do not have to answer that question now. When we give people a break at a time when we could break them, like Jesus did with the woman caught in adultery, we grant ourselves the opportunity to change lives for the better, and not just other lives, but our also.