I have heard a Bible verse that goes, ‘Pride goeth before Destruction’. We are all guilty of being prideful and putting ourselves before what might be a better option.

As people, we don’t like to be wrong and are even less willingly to admit it.

Former Kingsville Athletic Director Rory Minter’s federal lawsuit against KISD seems to be coming to an end almost two years after alleged happenings conceived it.

And while I cannot prove what actually did or did not happen, I can probably guesstimate something I’m willing to bet the farm on. All of this case’s legal wrangling for the past year-plus is going to cost KISD - and the taxpayers - more than what buying out the final year of Minter’s contract ($69,000) would have.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one. Guy goes to see a doctor. After conducting tests, doctor tells the guy he has a cyst. ‘We need to remove it now’, the doctor says. Guy ignores doctor’s advice because he thinks he is healthy and tough enough to outlast the cyst. Almost a year later, guy ends up back at the hospital and this time the doctor tells him he has cancer. The cancerous part of the guy’s body is removed and calamity is avoided. Lying in his hospital bed recovering, guy pontificates about the day the doctor first told him about the cyst. Guy thinks, ‘I should have taken care of it then, waiting until it got to this point is going to cost way more now.’

Looking out the window, Guy sees doctor wave goodbye as he drives off in his brand new Corvette.

Yeah, I know what some of you out there are thinking right now. But no matter what SOME may think about me writing about this topic, ALL of us are going to chip in to pick up the tab for Minter’s settlement. Minter’s case was a cyst that should have been taken care of many moons ago. Slay the dragon while it is still small.

I’ll end this column with the same history lesson I offered about a year ago. After all, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it and it is obvious that some of us take longer, or are too proud, to be edified.

The army of King Pyrrhus of Epirus defeated the legendary Roman army on two separate occasions; in 279 and 280 BC. But on both occasions, his majesty lost the majority of his forces.

“If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans,” his highness is quoted to have said, “we shall be utterly ruined.”

While this case will not destroy the school district, the money will eventually come out of the pockets of its taxpayers. PRIDE GOETH BEFORE DEDUCTION.

(Rey Sifuentes Jr. can be reached at rataman2@ yahoo.com)