#4 Don | 2004-10-19 20:00
What does <b>proud</b> mean here:
<b>proud</b>:
1. Feeling pleasurable satisfaction over an act, a possession, a quality, or a relationship by which one measures one's stature or self-worth: proud of one's child; proud to serve one's country.
3. Feeling or showing justifiable self-respect.
4. Filled with or showing excessive self-esteem.
Conversly, an antonym of proud is given as
<b>humble</b>:
1. Marked by meekness or modesty in behavior, attitude, or spirit; not arrogant or prideful.
2. Showing deferential or submissive respect: a humble apology.
Excerpted from American Heritage Talking Dictionary
Copyright 1997 The Learning Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Does pride go before a fall? Will the meek inherit the earth?
I will let you decide that, but I once remember a sign in front of a church which said: "If you are on your knees, you cannot fall." Right or wrong, this is what popped into my head: "If you are on your knees, you have already fallen."
Finally, to declare oneself a "Chosen One" surely seems to me the height of arrogance. And one of the listed meanings of arrogance is <b>overbearing</b> pride.