Arrogance can be defined in many different ways, but my personal preferred definition is: an insulting way of thinking or behaving that comes from believing that you are better, smarter or more important than other people. Have you ever encountered or known a person who constantly sees themselves as better than others and treat others inferior to them? Me too. Throughout life, I am utterly surprised at the amount of arrogant people I have come across or been exposed to. When I hear the word arrogant two main words come to mind: superiority and spitefulness.

If there is one thing I live by, it is to never believe I am superior and never let someone make me believe they are superior because we should all feel equal. I am actually embarrassed that we live in a society where there is so much competition amongst each other that people feel superior than others because of it. We feel like if we don’t have the best of the best we aren’t the best of the best. We don’t need to be that way. This is a quality of arrogance: feeling better than others. I cannot stand a person who feels they are better than everyone else. There is a huge difference between being confident and being arrogant. I heard a saying once that I believe describes the difference perfectly, “Arrogance is thinking you are better than someone else, confidence is knowing no one is above you.” Arrogant people who believe they are superior also seem to believe they are always right. No one is always right; not you, not I, and surely not the arrogant person who claims they are.

I promise it is better to be humble and confident than to be that spiteful, arrogant person who no one wants to be around. With arrogance comes vindictiveness. Arrogant people seem to always find a way feel superior and knock others down with harsh criticism. For example, when an arrogant person feels threatened by someone, he or she will often lash out at them and become spiteful. They will do anything to make the person who makes them uncomfortable feel inferior to them. It’s a never-ending pattern of being superior and being spiteful until they feel they have gotten their way. So, my question is this: why do we let arrogant people feed off of us?

We need to stop making arrogant people think they are right. If they continue to think they are right, they may never know the person they could be if they weren’t always made out to feel superior. My hope is that you don’t believe the spiteful things that an arrogant person has said to you. Make sure you don’t become arrogant yourself when protecting yourself from the arrogant, spiteful person. The most important thing to remember is that not one person is better than another. Choose to feel equal to others rather than feeling superior or inferior. An arrogant person is the worst kind of person; be humbly confident.