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| Claudette Esterine |
Recently, my daughter
and I had a hearty laugh remembering a few incidents that had my mother
spitting bullets. One of them was my method of “cutting and folding” cake
batter as I was taught in Home Economics class.
It was approaching Christmas
and this was my first time making Christmas cake for our household. Feeling
very confident in my ability, after all I was getting good grades in Cookie B’s
class at my high school, I proceeded to “rub the butta with the suga,” until it
was light and fluffy. To capture the air and ensure that the cake rose nicely,
I diligently followed the cut and folding technique taught to us in class. My
mother came into the kitchen and saw me painstakingly capturing air and asked
me what the heck I was doing. My explanation did not cut water with her and she
ordered me to “rub the cake!”
My teenager argumentative nature took
over and I proceeded to give her a lesson in the art of proper cake making. She
was not impressed. The expletives that followed the clout over the back of my
head knocked any further argument out of me.
“Pride goeth before a
fall! Yuh tink yuh betta dan mi, gal?” [Translation: Do you think you are
better than I am, girl?)
That biblical verse
would often be repeated in my house until I moved out. Its echo followed me for
many years.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” ― Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"
Another woman would
ask me a similar question many decades later. My aspiration to write and
communicate with a wider group evoked her wrath. “Who are you to be writing
that?” By this time, I was beginning to open up to Life and learning Whose I
am. Nervously, as she was the mother of my then partner, I responded, “I am Me,”
and continued writing.
My own interpretation
of the much lauded biblical passage is an egotistical, cocky and boastful attitude. That is not the same as being proud of one’s achievements. One person wrote this about that kind of pride
that this Proverb relates to – an analysis
with which I wholeheartedly agree:
“…The next step after
being all puffed up with arrogance could be falling flat on your face….'Pride
comes before a fall' means that one becomes over confident and stops thinking
sensibly when success goes to one's head and which is a sure indication of the
fact that that person is bound to suffer or face disappointment because of the
wrong decisions that he or she might make. In other words too much arrogance
and self pride are sure to bring bad and disappointing results. “ (Source: Answer.com)
Once you lose a sense
of worth, in yourself and in your abilities, then a fall will follow. Jane Austen wrote:
“Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.” Pride and Prejudice
Are you vain or are
you proud of your journey and the possibilities ahead of you? Share with us here,
or on our Facebook page and have a beautiful rest of the evening.
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