This a blast from my past, March 2019 in fact. I hope you enjoy it.
Hubris, It’s a funny old word, not widely used but I think we see way too many examples of it every day. The Great Sage GOOGLE says:
hu·bris
/ˈ(h)yo͞obrəs/
noun
- excessive pride or self-confidence.
I am a big believer in confidence. We need to be confident in our daily activities, in our workplace and in ourselves. But sometimes that confidence becomes inflated and the result is hubris. And the way in which we experience it, can sometimes be hilarious.
Have you ever been in a bar and spent your time watching what the other people are doing? Of course, one must do this with at least a beer in hand so as not to appear to be a pervert. Put away your camera phone and I would suggest that you not take notes. As you were watching them, the bartender is quite possibly taking note of you. Try explaining this to the police!
But I digress. In any large group of people, especially where alcohol is involved, they’ll always be at least one peacock. An individual who believes that he, or she, is the pinnacle of human evolution. They will prance, yes I said prance, around expecting adulation. They never for one moment think that they are anything less than perfection.
Some people are able to go through their entire lives believing in their perfection. It is quite sad when reality sets in. But not unexpected. After all, Society is the one who feeds in to this idea of hubris. We don’t let our children see reality. We coddle them and praise them, as we should, but they also need to know that failure does happen. We need to understand failure in order to appreciate success. I read a story many years ago about a grandfather who took his small grandson skating. When they were on the ice the older man lifted his arms and said “fall down” the child did just that. This happened several times in a row and the child asked why his beloved grandfather was making him fall down. The answer was simple: “You need to learn that it’s okay to fall down. When you’re not afraid of failure you can truly succeed.”
Our children need to learn that it’s okay to fail. It is part of the equation which leads to success. You are not ‘less than’ if you don’t succeed the first time, you’re simply on the learning curve. We need to let people, children, know what failure is like. Otherwise, we will create a society with way too much hubris and not enough compassion.
The lessons we learn as children mold us into the adults we will become.
Butterfly Sand 
A blast from the past Pam, and a good one! I know a lot of people won’t agree with me, but at one point you described Trump to a ‘T”. 🤗
I agree, we have to be careful that we don’t allow our confidence to turn into arrogance.
Ginger
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Oh my, I never thought of him. I rarely do. But you’re right, he is the perfect example. Detestable as always.
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Oh where oh where was that teacher in my youth Pam? What’s that, I couldn’t hear with my fingers in my ears? 🤣
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Hindsight is 2020. And that explains so many things…
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Indeed dear lady. It shows us where we have been so we can understand where we are going 😀
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I so agree
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Thank you
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I love this post. I used to be a therapist and I saw a lot of people who didn’t know how to fail gracefully and learn from their experiences.
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Thank you Phil. I think learning how to fail gracefully is a lesson that must be learned when we are children.
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I have spent time with hubris but have found it is not a good look on me.
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I am vain, I feel the same way.
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Hear, hear!
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Thanks!
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You’re welcome!
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All fascinating…I send a lot of time wondering about people and what makes them tick.
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I do too. Although I am often disappointed when I do.
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hubris – when life is one big selfie. and otherwise lacking… good points. To put it another way – If you have not failed you might have missed learning something important.
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I think we learn more from our failures than we do from our easy successes. Both have lessons to teach.
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Very true. Life is, can be a learning moment. Both in success, in failure, and anywhere in between…
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Great post & love the grandfather story!
In raising my kids, when things went awry, I’d ask them to think about how something went: did they like the outcome? Would they do the same thing again? What parts did you like? What would you lose, what keep, if there’s a next time?
It’s a good exercise for me, too. 😏😄
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What a great way to get them invested in themselves.
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Fitting advice on this day for mothers
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Thank you
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Failing is one of the best things, Pam, when we learn from it. The worst thing we can do it let failure define us. If we accept it, learn from it and grow, we are in good shape.
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You’re absolutely right
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I have found that all the failures in my life are now part of my burnished soul. I don’t regret any of them, and learned many lessons from them.
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Exactly. Lessons that are learned hard are remembered.
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So true.
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Well said, Pam.
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Thank you Cheryl.
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I could not agree more!
In this society where “everyone is a winner”, they don’t learn how to lose; how to have to try harder because they are led to believe they already are the best. When they get to the real working world years later, they are dumbfounded to find they are not. I generalise, of course; there are parents who refuse to join in on this bandwagon (I’m one of them 😉 )
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That is exactly it Dale. It does these kids such a disservice. And that can be felt for years.
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It annoys me to no end knowing that their own parents are in a sense handicapping them.
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This is the truth, Pam.
One of my favorite quotes on the subject is from the basketball player Michael Jordan. ” . . . I have failed again and again and again. And that is why I succeed,”.
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Those are wise words.
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