Maybe Them - But Not Me

You know those other people have quite a problem.  THEY really need to get their act together.  THEY are taking too many risks, don't spend their money wisely, waste too much time.  When will THEY get their act together?  I sure am thankful that I'm not like THEM.

It's very easy to diagnose the problems in others.  It's much more difficult to see those problems in ourselves.  We can see how others can fall for a temptation and assume that if we were in that same situation it wouldn't affect us.  We tell ourselves the great lie, "I can handle it."  

Many people walk through life with an attitude that says, "It's not that I'm better than them, It's just that they are worse than me."  If we were asked if the same rules that apply to everyone else should also apply to us. we would undoubtedly say, "Of Course".  Sometimes we just don't live that way.  There is a name for this attitude.  It's called PRIDE.

In 2008 the housing bubble burst.  This led to the banking bail outs and the great recession.  In the aftermath there have been all kinds of stories of bankers and mortgage loan officers cutting corners to get people approved for mortgages that they should not have qualified for.  It is easy to look at that mess and ask why they would do such a thing.  But I imagine a corporate environment where cutting the corners is encouraged.  Where the other people do it and nothing goes wrong.  Where the incentive is a lot ( and I mean A LOT) of money.  I wonder if I would be the ONE in that environment to stand up and say NO when so many others did not.  Do I think that I am that much better than them?  Do I think that the temptations that they fell for would not affect me?  Do I think that I would even have seen it as problem at the time?

Pride goes before destruction,  a haughty spirit before a fall. - Proverbs 16:18