Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Pride Before the Fall
“Would you rather have me give a 45-minute speech on pride, or read Yertle the Turtle in five minutes?” I ask my students after reading the story. It’s no surprise. After I read Yertle the Turtle to my college students, they request Dr. Seuss, not a lecture, every time. I read the story from a large, hard-cover book, holding it high, so all can see the illustrations, just as I would, if I were reading to my grandchildren.
The story of Yertle teaches us that position, power, and pride can usurp freedom, rights, and care for others. Yertle is a turtle king. He is not satisfied with where he is in the pond. He says, “With this stone for a throne, I look down on my pond / But I cannot look down on the places beyond.” So, Yertle commands the turtles to create a stack so he can climb on their backs, in his words, “If I could sit high, how much greater I’d be!” He is higher, until, a plain turtle named Mack questions the whole enterprise. In case you’ve never read the story, I will leave out any spoilers.
But beyond the obvious message, is the way the story is told. Seuss created memorable characters in King Yertle and Mack. The illustrations are pure Seuss – wonky and wonderful. But I believe it is the poetry that best captures attention. Rhyming is signature Seuss. But rhyming can close the loop on understanding, as primary teachers know full well.
There is a reason I have been reading this same story over and over again for years. The teaching is timeless. But most important to me is the universal concept that words have power, and the power of words can dethrone a king’s arrogance. For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, president of The Comenius Institute, personally seeking the power of words, to tell the truth.
First published at MarkEckel.com.
Published in General
Pride is the greatest sin and we have an epidemic of pride in this country. We have whole months dedicated to the celebration of pride. Prideful people think they control the weather with their use of light bulbs. The increase in pride has accompanied a decrease in Christianity, for Christianity demands that people are humble and grateful for what they are given. Revival or bust. Please support any hint of revival you come across.
I once heard a lecture about ecclesiastical art that discussed imagery illustrating the 7 deadly sins. Pride was commonly shown by showing a man falling from a horse.
Having the means and authority to ride a horse hundreds of years ago was an uncommon luxury. Of course one hit the ground harder because of the greater height.
“It’s turtles all the way down,” seems like an appropriate quote here.
I am reading the C.S. Lewis daily read book “A Year With C. S. Lewis”, every morning a nugget from his writings. The last few days have been about pride, so I jumped at your post of course.
This has been one of the best parts of the experience so far; I had never really thought about pride as anything other than one of the seven.
But it really is at the root of it all, isn’t it? Pride is the only sin that, by its nature, separates you from God – it’s what pride is: me, not you.
Pride leads to every other vice. I’ve been thinking about this a lot through these last several days.
It is instructive to watch God-deniers relying on pride as the “basis” of their position.