Challenged
I went with friends to see Elie Wiesel in Charlotte give a talk entitled "Against Indifference." He was very professorial, and quiet spoken, and also very moving. The perfect example of someone who can explain why anger is a good and powerful tool for change, and why hate is not that. As one would expect before he was finished I felt he threw down the challenge for me to do more with my life.

Or considering recent re-consideration to be more in my life.

Having been brought up by pre-hippy, not quite beatnik parents I was raised to be very accepting of others. Even at an early age I realized this meant people who weren't accepting of others, or even me. What he mentioned that applied particularly to me is that without realizing it I've felt pretty self-righteous about exactly that. He talked about the need to be humble before people and that only after that could you be proud of being accepting.

Overall I'm a big fan of pride. It's yet another tool for positive change, the desire to be able to be proud of a skill or an attribute. It generally makes us better people. There's also the fact that I have a big but fragile ego, which is supported by pride quite nicely.

So there's this division I need to pay more attention to between pride and righteousness. I suspect it will require a lot of work, but I suppose it's good work, if you can get it.