July 21, 2022 – Click here to listen
One of my new buddies recently went to a state tennis tournament. Before he left, he bragged incessantly about how he was going to win the state championship. He went on and on about how he was the top seed for the tournament, and he really didn’t see it as a contest because he was so much better than everyone else in the tournament.
Imagine how he felt when he was thoroughly trounced and had to return home and face all those people to whom he had been bragging. I tried but failed miserably to show compassion. Instead, I couldn’t help but laugh as he lamented his losses. He was not amused, and I could tell his ego had been deflated like sticking a pin into a hot air balloon.
He reminded me of President Trump whose giant mouth never stops. All-in-all I think he was the most effective President of my lifetime, but his arrogance and vanity wither his accomplishments like a prune. Muhammed Ali once said, “It ain’t bragging of you can do it.” I do not believe that. Trump could certainly do the job but his dark side could make him a poster boy for the stereotype of a selfish, egomaniacal, bragging, cruel rich kid. Though uniquely gifted in so many ways, his mouth is his own worst enemy.
I disliked his mean-spirited approach to people who opposed him, or that he looked down upon, but I held my nose and voted for him because he was by far the best man for the job. Obviously, enough people were so repelled by his dark side that he lost the election to an incompetent senile career politician boob who made his fortune bilking the taxpayer. Geez, he cannot even read a teleprompter without flubbing it.
Narcissistic behavior cost the better-qualified man and the nation a good President who would not have us in the mess we are in. Muhammed Ali later said, “I would say things like ‘I am the greatest! I’m pretty! If you talk jive, you’ll drop in five! I float like a butterfly, sting like a bee! I’m pretty!’ When white people heard me talking like this, some said, ‘That black man talks too much. He’s bragging.” It wasn’t just the white man that wanted him to let his boxing do his talking but people of every color. In the end, no one likes to hear bragging even if one can back it up. Let others do the talking and swallow the pride.
The best verse I can think of for this behavior is as follows, (President Trump please take notes):
Proverbs 16:18
Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.