Going off the rails with pride

Thomas is quite a useful engine.

   I find it odd that a man of the cloth champions pride so much, yet such is the case of the Rev. W. Awdry.
   Awdry, a Church of England clergyman, has provided children around the world with his fictional series, Thomas the Tank Engine.
   My daughter can't get enough of Thomas and his many engine friends who grapple with moral dilemmas in ten-minute segments.
   A good engine is a useful engine is a theme visited and revisited, and that's all well and good. Thomas always tries his best to make everyone happy and goes to great lengths in this endeavor.
   One problem which often rears its head is stubbornness. It is another theme that Awry writes of with frequency, indicating that it is better to ask for help rather than end up in an intractable situation.
   In these stories it seems obvious that pride is an obstacle to success as one engine or another can't admit it needs help for fear of losing face. Pride is a problem.
   But very often Awry will also tout how proud a character is after a successful venture, a development which introduces conflict in a young mind searching for understanding of right and wrong.
   Pride is a slippery subject: one can be pleased with an effort or problem solved, but pride, as I know it, precedes the fall.
  Of this I know from experience.
   Now I'm not going to prevent my daughter from watching the show but I feel better when I watch it with her and discuss the lesson from each episode.
   Again, I've just found it a little vexing how a clergyman can talk of pride with such, dare I say, pride.