Arrogance is a disease of the soul. It begins when the afflicted says to himself, "I judge us both and I and mine are more important than you and yours." From here, the afflicted can justify any injustice against another from stealing his sibling's candy
. . .
(see you on the flip)
. . .to genocide. Like the alcoholic, the afflicted is utterly unable to see his own disease unaided. Nor can he defeat it himself.
The afflicted, in his arrogance, truly believe that The Power Greater Than Himself that can save him from himself is actually on his side. Given this crucial insight, that noneother than the Almighty Himself is behind his every opinion and every action based upon those opinions, the afflicted sees it as his moral obligation to to enforce his point of view with every means at his disposal.
Ironically, George W. Bush himself predicted his own failure when, in the ashes of the World Trade Center he announced to the world, "If we are arrogant, we will fail."
And so he goes: Spreading destruction, sewing misery and inciting hatred. All the while creating seeminly reasonable justifications for every deed, yet every one is rooted in the same lie of the mind, taken root in the disease of his soul.
The Fascist says, "I own it. It's mine! We must protect Property Rights. Don't punish me because I got rich, tax the poor people who are less important than me."
The Dominionist says, "For the sake of the Jesus Christ we must end these horrible things that are an affront to God! These gays, these feminists, these godless people have to be stopped!"
The Racist says, "It's THEM! They don't look or talk or act like us! They're the problem. Our ways are the right ways, and our people are better people. They're thieves, they're lazy, they're killing our society!"
But really, all of them say the same thing: "I and mine are more important than you and yours." Friends, in the midst of such self-delusion, truth must surely hide elsewhere.
The opposite of arrogance is humility. Humility requires us to see others as our peers. Humility bows the king to the commoner and makes Government the servant of the People. Who are these humble men? Let us name them:
The humble CEO makes his corporation the servant of the workers and the shareholders.
The humble preacher does not judge, lest he be judged.
The humble man loves his neighbor as himself.
The humble man preserves his environment knowing that the generations to come depend on it.
The humble man seeks justice that all may live in peace.
The humble man fishes for himself, and teaches others to fish, that they may fish for themselves.
The humble man rights wrongs when he is able, even when they are not his wrongs to right.
The humble man, because he has done these things, knows God.