Eye of a Needle

     Out on the nighttime roads of Orange County, I find myself seeing a good lot of two different types of  people:  youngsters who ride out with their 199-something Honda Accords, "decked out" with unnecessarily large spoilers and bright- almost illuminating-- chrome rims and the older folks toting around their BMW 567-series or Mercedes XYZ-class.  It just confuses me how on both sides of the spectrum that these individuals would pride themselves in displaying such instances of pizazz.

     Aesthetics is aesthetics-- "eye is in the beholder," as one aphorist put it.  The youngsters think of which to be gilding their rudimentarily transportable vehicles with such trinkets and the older people buying the most luxurious automobiles money can buy-- it really only has one purpose: to attract attention.  These displays are for show.  They are to simply catch the eyes of their peers-- a conversation starter.  This rather dangerous notion brings about a vicious trait that people may be prone to.  Pride.  No matter at what era and what income status, it's there.  It's dangerous.

     In the Book of Mormon, let's look at the book of Jacob-- Nephi's younger brother.  Jacob is told to write the legacy of his (both him and Nephi, dubbed "Nephites") people as Nephi is dying.  Jacob recounts of a time when the Nephites have sought riches to the point of condescending themselves above their counterparts, the Lamanites (the family of Nephi's older brother, Laman, thus the name's origin.  They were, from the start, a wicked and savage people).  This is what pride does to good person, in the words of Jacob.  When sin and iniquity overcomes the good, there is sure to be destruction and cleansing ahead.  Sodom and Gomorrah.  Noah's people.  Jericho.  Rameses' Egypt.  These people were filled with pride, the wealthy and the not-so-wealthy, but they have ended in the same place.

     What we can learn from this experience, is that pride can affect anyone.  It can lead to a fate you probably won't like too much.  There's definitely a lot of proof about that.  What can we do to avoid it?  I would just tell you to be more humble and repent of your sins, but I cannot; I'm not your mother.  However, I'd start by changing that Bentley you drive to a Volkswagen.