The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Page 2 "Most people dislike vanity in other, whatever share they have of it themselves; but I give it fair quarter wherever I meet with it, being persuaded that it is often productive of good to the possessor and to others who are within his sphere of action; and therefore, in many cases, it would not be altogether absurd if a man were to thank God for his vanity among the other comforts of life."
Wow what a new idea to me that vanity could have a benefit. Being vain from young in my life and spending time in the mirror as a teen ager with a sister who calls me vain I have always thought of vanity as something one did not want. Benjamin Franklin has changed my view some types of vanity is merely confidence in who we are and that is a good trait. This is a trait that we can then use to benefit those around us and one that will pick us up by the bootstraps when we fall. We are Children of God and some vanity is a reflection of what the creator has placed in us all.
The negative forms of vanity are always coupled with self-centered and selfish behavior. Many times it is my experience that this type of vanity originates from a what Jonah 2:8 says" he that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy." So Vanity is harmful when it is not the truth. When we bend to the desire to make up that we are more than we are or better than what our actions and words show. It is a twisting of a mirror on our own behaviors and how others around us might see them.
The trick is to separate ourselves from the view that others have of us and seek only to see how God see's us because he is the source of all truth and is the only one who truly knows us and knows our strengths weaknesses and progress. He is the only one we ever need to please anyway.