Hubris Is a Fortress
By James A. Langley, Executive Director Emeritus
District of Colombia Baptist Convention, Washington, D.C.
 
“Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”      Proverbs 16:18
 
Hubris is a fortress wherein self-deception rules,
      shutting out opinions of those it deems fools,
      from whose lofty towers pennants are flying,
      but unseeing and uncaring about the wider world’s crying,
      as long as its ramparts are unbreached,
      and its flagrant fallacies not yet impeached,
      its high standing given due deference,
      and proud lineage treated with reverence;
      vainglorious, it scorns humility as beneath its dignity,
      a mark of weakness unworthy of its brilliancy;
      its pomp and heraldry impress the undiscerning,
      more pompous than weighty, time makes clear the turning;
      isolation often blends arrogance with naiveté,
      inimical to truth and menace to society.
 
With moat filled and drawbridge raised,
      vanity disdains contrary counsel, tho’ opposing views may widely be praised;
      driven to control, master of all its surveys,
      to rule at all costs is the message it conveys,
      thereby many may suffer—or a nation misled,
      and robbed of wise and just ways that would stand them in good stead;
      if the autocrat is infallible, why consult,
      or why, then, should the people question the result?
      In the high-ceilinged banquet hall all bow to the great one,
      when and whatever he wills, his will must be done.
 
Armored against correction and corruption
      by the common breed,
      shunning all but its narrow creed,
      self-centered is the pattern of its life
      ‘til denial of others’ rights is rife,
      the supercilious lay claim where none is due,
      and arrogate dominion which mocks the true;
      trumpets from the towers, echoing from hills to plain,
      sound the superior claim that others are in vain;
      all-powerful, it need not answer criticism,
      sure that is self-appointed mission is God-given,
      boastful of its lavish and exclusive ways,
      and blinded by its sycophant followers’ praise,
      oblivious to a haughty spirit that galls,
      arrogance knows not that its greatest enemy
      is within its walls.

Updated Friday, January 19, 2007