To anyone who serves as a mentor,
There are two types of pride; sometimes when a child is prideful that is a good thing.
I was assigned to read The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand for my Honors Composition and Literature class, and I loved it. Ayn Rand is one of my favorite authors, and The Fountainhead kept up with that opinion. Now, I know that my love of classics isn’t necessarily the popular opinion, so assuming that most of you haven’t read it let me explain.
Imagine a world where advancement is shunned, and humility and selflessness are the rules of the world. Genius and creativity are subdued; society is ruled by the philosophy that “everything beautiful… has been done already” (Rand). The characters of The Fountainhead live in this world, some fall into step, but others fight for their knowledge and perspective.
Howard Roark is one of these characters who fight; he is expelled from the architecture school, and accepts the news with gratitude. Those around him call him prideful, and they’re correct, in that he knows he is smart and good. Because he realizes his potential he ignores the nay-sayers around him. He keeps on keeping on, doing what he loves and sparking love of his creations in those around him. He is proud of his creations, without the pompous pride of himself.
Peter Keating, on the other hand, is a character who allows society to shape him; thus earning the title of selfless, when really he doesn’t create anything unique and doesn’t really have a personality. In fact, this boy is so selfless that his mother is able to keep him from marrying the girl he loves. In exchange for not marrying Catherine (a lowly child), Keating is able to continue using others to climb up the power of fame.
Dominique Francon- man I didn’t like her- let the world shape her. She hated the world she lived in and loved Roark, yet when it became obvious that the world she and Roark lived in wasn’t what she wanted… Well, she went and married Keating, and then had an affair, and then divorced Keating, and then married the man she had the affair with, and then divorced him, and then finally married Roark. Honestly, Roark could do better, but he didn’t because he thought he had it all.
My point? Roark knew he was good and did good, without boasting, but while placing pride in his work. Keating convinced himself and those around him that he was good, when he really just copied other people’s work, while being pompous and prideful about how well off he was. Francon, she tried to stand out of the crowd, to mock those who the world saw as good; she knew she could master anything she set her mind to, although she wasn’t really proud of her work, she found pride in other people’s work.
When I was young, I was placed in SAGE (Students in Academically Gifted Education) and I was proud of the fact that I was in an advanced program. SAGE taught me to reach out, stretch my limits and weaknesses; it taught me to be proud of my accomplishments and knowledge. Now I don’t mean that to say that I was puffed up in pride; I didn’t make people want to shoot me, and I didn’t go around boasting about how great I was. I have seen people like that, both in the advanced programs and not, and they do make me want to shoot them. I do know that there are bad types of pride out there, but the pride of accomplishment is definitely something we should want our pupils and peers to feel.
PRIDE, for example, is a large organization that I know of from their PRIDE parades. They encourage you to be proud of who you are, not in the cocky I’m better than you way, but to be proud that you are unique and that you know who you are.
When children are young they develope their identity. Being proud of who they are is essential to developing who they can become. In fact, forming an identity and understanding their purpose in the world comes from uniqueness, from the pride inside us all that tells us to succeed on our own.
Without pride there would be no uniqueness. Without uniqueness there would be no identities. Without identities there would be no reason to be here.
In the end of The Fountainhead, Roark and Francon were married- and because they didn’t let the world dictate who they were, they found happiness. Keating, though, failed. After Francon left him he just kinda spiraled down-hill and out of the spotlight. Roark and Francon found pride in their work, and when students or children do that, it is the job of their mentors to congratulate them. It’s not often that a child finds joy in what they do, and when they are proud of their accomplishments, let them be. It’s not selfish to be proud of your accomplishments, its selfish to try to keep them from being proud.
