Ponzi Scheme and Faith
Autor: taramario • February 27, 2016 • Essay • 467 Words (2 Pages) • 677 Views
Rachel Marion
Professor Hiotellis
ACCT 215 (01)
18 February 2016
The Pride Of Bernie Madoff
Bernie Madoff was indeed a brilliant man who took his confidence and desire for money to a whole new level. At a young age Madoff recognized his talent as a penny stock trader (Yang, 2014). His confidence of this talent grew into pride and in the end was the sin that struck him to his downfall.
Many people confuse self-respect with pride, but it is important to be able to note the difference between the two. While the person with self-respect is said to have pride they are still considerably “ashamed to violate [their] confidence” and think themselves better than others (Sands, 2010, p. 41). Opposite of this, a person holding a sin in pride tends to have a higher self-respect for themselves that causes their narcissism to make them feel overly confident, and in turn gives them the feeling of being better than others (Sands, 2010). This all being said, Madoff’s greatest downfall was his inability to recognize this difference, as he saw his son’s self-respect as being the same as his pride.
Madoff was so overly prideful he could not envision any other response from telling his son of his scheme than joy. As he saw his son’s self-respect for pride Madoff had envisioned that his son would be happy to continue his father’s work. This is what occurs when someone falls to the sin of pride. They let it control their actions and cannot see how anyone else would think differently from himself or herself. Madoff was proof of this.
With clouded vision he did not question if his son would think differently than him and told him about the scheme in complete confidence that he would accept it. His son on the other hand, held a righteous pride in which he could not fathom putting others below himself. This in the end caused Madoff’s son to turn him in. The grief of knowing that he had helped his father get away with such prideful actions is what led him to ending his life. Thus, showing the affects that pride can have on others.
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