What is Pride?

I sat with a friend for a few days after she had surgery. She did everything she was supposed to do. She gritted her teeth, did the rehab and got back on her feet in record time.

I was about to tell her I was proud of her and then I thought, “what right did I have to be ‘proud’ of her? She did all the work.”

Pride is “satisfaction in something done, owned; self respect.” Pride is “highly pleased with,” according to Webster’s New World Dictionary.

Proud was not the word I felt I should use. I am not her parent, nor her tutor. I do not own her. I was her cheerleader.

I am “highly pleased” with what she has accomplished and will tell her so.

I see others struggling with similar conditions who will not brave the surgery, who will not undergo the pain and the work involved. She took it on and she succeeded.

I am proud of her.

If only we could undergo the knife and get our grief cut out. I can’t get rid of it in a few days or weeks. It keeps biting me unawares.

She had the courage to face her injury.

I may ask to borrow some of that courage from her. It seems I keep needing more and more in my attempts to re-enter life.

Let me know how you are doing in your journey. I care.

Sincerely,

Lynn Brooke

Contemplation: Do you take pride in your accomplishments?

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