Opportunity Versus Pride

I was watching the documentary called "Chimpanzee" and it was very clear to me about how important opportunism is to survival. In that movie Freddie the Alpha Male of that tribe of Chimpanzees sees an opportunity to raise "Oscar" whose mother has been taken by a Cheetah. Males don't ordinarily do this but Freddie sees that he is short of adult males in his tribe of Chimpanzees so he raises Oscar as his own because all the females already have babies to raise so they can't easily take on Oscar.

In the animal kingdom and when people survive really awful things in their lives pride has to be left at the door. All pretentiousness is also gone and what is left is modesty, humility and survival. So, opportunism is what saves a person often in survival situations and pride often leads to their deaths. However, people who have had fairly easy lives up until then might not know that.

Pride often can be defined as too rigid a view of reality. And what leads to survival is often an attitude like, "I will do whatever it takes to survive this present situation and save my own life."

This kind of situation often permanently changes a person for good or ill depending upon how physically and psychologically healthy they were to begin with. Survival in difficult situations is always based upon opportunism and adaptability. Often pride or being stuck in only one way of looking at things leads to one's demise in difficult situations.

Unexpected situations in life like travel to other countries or regions or backpacking in the wilderness or being out of your normal city, state or element often drive people into survival modes. And sometimes these modes are useful and sometimes they aren't. So knowing when to let go of your pride so you can survive is necessary if you want to navigate multiple cultures, states, areas and nationalities of people. So, opportunity becomes, "How can I make friends with these people from a different culture than mine." Or "How can I survive this difficult situation and stay alive through it?"

I have noticed that the most prideful people often are those who don't have passports and really have no idea what happens outside of their city or county or state or country.

Just always remember "Opportunity and Adaptability creates survival in most situations throughout your lives."