The View from a Drawbridge

So the other day I was training a coworker how to de-grease a piece of equipment, and I was acting all prideful and pedantic. Insufferable, probably. Then I bent over to demonstrate something, and I split my pants from waist to crotch.

Just when I’m getting too full of myself, literally and figuratively, the universe has a tendency to slap me back into reality. Thank GOD I had a pair of coveralls in my locker, or I’d have had to take the quarter mile walk of shame back to the control tower with my drawers exposed to a Seattle traffic jam.

It never hurts to be reminded not to take oneself too seriously. As the bible says in Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” These days most of us shorten that to “pride goeth before a fall.”

But that shows you how proud I am. Because when I hear that quote, I think that it should have been translated as “Pride comes before a fall”, because that’s what they meant. Your pride can really have consequences.

And the fact is, as I so clearly realized when I split my pants, pride actually goes after a fall, too. As in, it completely leaves you. Because I was truly mortified when I heard my pants tearing asunder. You haven’t lived until you’ve exposed your faded underwear to a trainee.