Center for Workplace Happiness

About Wagalicious Blog Tiny Bites Podcast Creating a Wagalicious Life Success Tools Store Contact Us Call Sandy Now Login

Are You Afraid of Pride?

One word. Five letters. Many meanings. Some angst. Some anger. Some pride. Here are some definitions, according to Oxford Languages:

  • A feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.
  • A group of lions forming a social unit.
  • Confidence and self-respect as expressed by members of a group, typically one that has been socially marginalized, on the basis of their shared identity, culture, and experience.

“Pride” is a word with a lot of conflicted history behind it. Pride was first on the list of the seven deadly sins, yet “pride of place” speaks to giving the very best location to a person or object that is revered. Then there’s the sense of national pride, which is celebrated the world over. Pride can be very confusing!

C.S. Lewis, writing in “Mere Christianity,” said: “A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” Thomas Jefferson wrote lists of life rules for his relatives, including this: “Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst, and cold.” With a bit of a contrarian bent, in her book “Pride and Prejudice” Jane Austin wrote, “Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.”

Which brings us to the third definition above for the word “pride.”

June is Pride Month, as you’ve probably noticed. Just as with Black History Month, Women’s History Month, and the months spotlighting Arab-American Heritage, Asian Pacific Heritage, Jewish Heritage, and Hispanic Heritage, Pride Month exists to shine a light on the contributions the spotlighted community has given to the world. More on those in a minute, but first - what are your emotions as it relates to this recognition of the LGBTQ+ community? Are you feeling angst, anger, pride, or maybe something else?

If you interact with human beings, you interact with members of the LGBTQ+ community, whether you know it or not. If you lead a team, chances are someone you lead is celebrating Pride Month, though maybe very, very quietly. If education about the LGBTQ+ community causes you angst or even anger, then this is an area of personal development you might consider. Angst and anger are harmful to your body as well as to your interactions with family, friends, and co-workers. The world’s second-shortest podcast can help you with some mindset tools you can use whenever you need them:

Now, about those LGBTQ+ people who have made tremendous contributions to the world:

  • Leonardo da Vinci, who gave the world the mysterious smile of the Mona Lisa, his depiction of the moment Jesus said “One of you will betray me” in his painting of The Last Supper, as well as prescient designs for airplanes and helicopters 415 years before the Wright brothers went airborne.
  • Florence Nightingale, the English social reformer who improved hygiene standards in nursing and opened the first secular nursing school in the world. International Nurses Day is celebrated on her birthday, May 12th.
  • William Shakespeare, the poet and playwright who gave the world a straight love story in Romeo and Juliet, as well as a complex love triangle of two men and a woman in The Merchant of Venice. His collection of 154 sonnets featured 126 of them written to a man, not to a woman.
  • Bayard Rustin, the openly gay co-organizer of the March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his I Have a Dream speech. He helped found the Freedom Rides and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
  • Sally Ride, a physicist who helped develop the space shuttle’s robotic arm and America’s first female astronaut. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the US, and has numerous schools, roads and even a Navy vessel named after her.
  • Lily and Lana Wachowski, trans siblings who are two of Hollywood’s most influential moviemakers, with credits on the Matrix series of movies as well as dozens of other major motion pictures.

All your life you’ve been positively influenced by people who would now be considered part of the LGBTQ+ community. You’ve read books, admired art, used technology, and benefitted from the life’s work of people who might have been out or they might have remained closeted. You’ve felt the advantage of laws designed to ensure freedom for everyone. Perhaps this Pride Month is a good time to celebrate the beautiful spectrum of possibilities as well as abilities. Rainbows up!

Close

50% Complete

Two Step

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.