Being prideful and having pride are two completely different things. Same words, but their meanings span the spectrum of opposites.
My grandparents were immigrants. They made lives for themselves in a foreign country in order to avoid exile and death. Each set of grandparents owned their own homes. They were very well kept, if outdated in the end. They would not let litter sit in their yards.
Perhaps their motivation was fear of persecution. Perhaps they wanted to be sure the neighbors were okay with the foreigners taking up residence.
When they could no longer maintain the lawn, they paid the neighbor to mow and shovel. Neglect was never an option. My grandparents took pride in their homes. And that was passed down.
I live in a city. I live on a pretty public street. Random people walk, bike or drive by who don’t live here. Maybe that’s why they feel comfortable tossing their fast food cups into my hastas. Or my all time favorite, throwing the entire bag of wrappers into the street.
I would say that their littering is limited to the places they don’t live in, but I suspect that isn’t true.
Do you pick up spare change from the ground? I do. I’m not too proud to recognize the value of money, even if it requires pausing for a second. I also pick up other people’s garbage.
I am not too proud. But I swear and mumble under my breath about it. I’ve told my kids that if I was in the position to, I would throw cigarette butts back into cars from which they were flicked out from. I would return fast food bags to their rightful owners.
I’ve also noticed an overall lack of clean up in other public places or businesses. I imagine it becomes frustrating to perpetually combat the litter problem that others have created. Some are too proud to put themselves in a place of service, to their community, to their earth.
There’s a false sense of pride in people who litter, vandalize, destroy or otherwise disrespect their surroundings. This delusion spills into other aspects of their lives also. Their superior mindedness is not pride, rather it is foolishness. The good to come out of it is, they only are fooling themselves.
Auda Here 