by Cameron Cox

“Are prideful people more likely to be humiliated?”

Think about a winner’s pedestal, where the first place pedestal is the tallest and the second and third places follow behind it in height. These have been erected for a pumpkin growing contest, and the farmer with the largest pumpkin gets to display their pumpkin on the first place pedestal. They are admired because a pumpkin of this size is extremely taxing on the farmer to produce. But, even the slightest accidental bump into the side of the pedestals could send the 3 placing pumpkins into a pile of gooey, wet smithereens. While the pumpkins that have the most to boast about are in pieces on the ground, the pumpkins that didn’t receive the fame of the pedestal rest safely intact on the ground.

These pumpkins can represent people, who gather up pride and admiration. Many people try to build pedestals, and our pedestals are built up by things like success or money, fame, awards, superiority, etcetera. These pedestals are pedestals of pride, pedestals of which we look down upon the people that are below us. Think of the most famous or successful person, and think of how many tiny things can be a tiny bump that shatters their life into slimy smithereens. A celebrity, let’s say Kim Kardashian, could be decimated by something as simple as not returning her shopping cart to the center or cutting off a biker should she be caught. An everyday person, not so much.