Conceit

Oh, the effrontery of it! Haman, thinking the king is talking about HIM as the man to be honoured, asks to wear a royal robe previously worn by the king, riding a royal horse with the royal crest, and all this to be delivered to him by one of the royal princes! The prince himself is to ceremonially put the robes on 'this man'.  Then he is to be paraded through the streets for all to admire, telling everyone that this is because the king has honoured him.

When I was younger, occasionally when an outsider in a group, I mistakenly thought I was being included in a joke, a conversation...I presumed that I was part of the inner circle, responding to a remark that was NOT addressed to me. I felt embarrassed and conceited, having mistakenly thought I was 'being honoured' by being included.  I wouldn't have considered that I was conceited, but it felt like it: how could I, a relative stranger, think that I was worthy of inclusion?

This says more about me than the people I was with, but it taught me a lesson: not to think of myself as more worthy than others, to turn Philippians 2:3 on its head: "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,"