What is vanity? One dictionary definition of vanity is “excessive pride in one’s appearance, qualities, abilities, achievements, etc.” The struggle to choose between vanity and honesty is a real and daily endeavor, an issue that is not new to society. As seen with the ordeal concerning the Salem witch trials, people have been faced with the reality of this decision for centuries. It’s not a new concept, yet people continually stumble over this hurdle in everyday life. I myself have faltered many times at this hurdle, unsure how to behave and not knowing what motivates me. Many people understand the connotation that vanity is unacceptable, so obviously only terrible people are vain. In reality, vanity is a characteristic that many people
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Many people are honest, and they are motivated to act out of honesty. However, most people have a morsel of vanity within them that truly cares what other people think of them. This morsel of vanity shows itself quite often. I saw more examples of this in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. The first, and perhaps the most prominent illustration of behaving vainly, was the Reverend Samuel Parris. In the beginning of the play, the focus was on Reverend Parris’ daughter Betty. She was lying on a bed, unresponsive and sickly, and wasn’t able to acknowledge the presence of anyone around her. Reverend Parris was anxious, but not about Betty’s apparent illness. He was worried that the village would think that his own family was tainted by witchcraft. Nothing should ever go wrong, naturally, because he was a Puritan minister. What would the village think: a minister, of all people, suffering attacks from the Devil! That should never happen. He wouldn’t have kept his position of power for very …show more content…
I’d like to think that I always live by honesty and stand up for myself even when something challenges me. But sometimes I find myself behaving like I was motivated by vanity. It’s hard to be a perfect human being; in fact, it’s impossible. Sometimes, though, I like to think that I’m perfect and act as if I’m better than others, when in reality I’m worse in the end. It’s this type of pride, this vanity, that I continue to struggle with. I have a blessed life, so why isn’t that always obvious to me? I get caught up in my own achievements, my own abilities, and I don’t even stop to think about everything that helped me grasp those things. People along the way had to help nurture the seed within me; cultivate and care for my small talents; and encourage and teach me what I would have never known by myself. I am prideful about what I have accomplished, when in reality I wouldn’t have been able to do those things at all if it weren’t for those precious people who cared about me and helped me
Many people are honest, and they are motivated to act out of honesty. However, most people have a morsel of vanity within them that truly cares what other people think of them. This morsel of vanity shows itself quite often. I saw more examples of this in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. The first, and perhaps the most prominent illustration of behaving vainly, was the Reverend Samuel Parris. In the beginning of the play, the focus was on Reverend Parris’ daughter Betty. She was lying on a bed, unresponsive and sickly, and wasn’t able to acknowledge the presence of anyone around her. Reverend Parris was anxious, but not about Betty’s apparent illness. He was worried that the village would think that his own family was tainted by witchcraft. Nothing should ever go wrong, naturally, because he was a Puritan minister. What would the village think: a minister, of all people, suffering attacks from the Devil! That should never happen. He wouldn’t have kept his position of power for very …show more content…
I’d like to think that I always live by honesty and stand up for myself even when something challenges me. But sometimes I find myself behaving like I was motivated by vanity. It’s hard to be a perfect human being; in fact, it’s impossible. Sometimes, though, I like to think that I’m perfect and act as if I’m better than others, when in reality I’m worse in the end. It’s this type of pride, this vanity, that I continue to struggle with. I have a blessed life, so why isn’t that always obvious to me? I get caught up in my own achievements, my own abilities, and I don’t even stop to think about everything that helped me grasp those things. People along the way had to help nurture the seed within me; cultivate and care for my small talents; and encourage and teach me what I would have never known by myself. I am prideful about what I have accomplished, when in reality I wouldn’t have been able to do those things at all if it weren’t for those precious people who cared about me and helped me