Lashing Out

A fool’s mouth lashes out with pride, but the lips of the wise protect them. (Proverbs 14:3)

          I tend to think of “lashing out” as what someone does in anger, not in pride, but since pride is the source of most of our anger, it fits. A number of years ago, I noticed that I end to feel a desperate need to defend myself from others, to lash out. It was a time when I was under constant stress at work, but I remember fighting back tears at work because I couldn’t shake this need to defend myself from everyone and to everyone. At some point in the past, I got a “gimme” letter from the National Organization of Women. Instead of sending them a check, I sent them a long letter asking whether they would defend me – a woman – if I were to come under attack for saying or doing something that didn’t fit their idea of what was right for a woman. Not surprisingly, I never heard back from them. Over the past ten years, I have come to feel more and more as though I have to defend myself because no one else is going to. Sound paranoid? Not to me. To me, it sounds like injured pride. No one is there to protect ME, so I have to protect MYSELF. I’m not telling you so start a pity party or set off a lecture tour. I suspect there are a lot of people who feel the same way. It may be that everyone does to one extent or another. It can cover a huge spectrum from “Looking out for Number One!” to “I’m a poor victim.” 
          And in that sense, I suspect we all lash out with pride, and it’s only as we grow in wisdom that we can back away from that. Sometimes that it’s not a problem at all. Sometimes, it’s a big problem. I need to work on it. More WDA.