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Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Self-Esteem

"When people speak of their low self-esteem, they imply two things: first, that it is a physiological fact, rather like low hemoglobin, and second, that they have a right to more of it. What they seek, if you like, is a transfusion of self-esteem, given (curiously enough) by others; and once they have it, the quality of their lives will improve as the night succeeds the day. For the record, I never had a patient who complained of having too much self-esteem, and who therefore asked for a reduction. Self-esteem, it appears, is like money or health: you can't have too much of it."

"One has only to go into a prison, or at least a prison of the kind in which I used to work, to see the most revoltingly high self-esteem among a group of people (the young thugs) who had brought nothing but misery to those around them, largely because they conceived of themselves as so important that they could do no wrong. For them, their whim was law, which was precisely as it should be considering who they were in their own estimate."

 For you sorry people who demand MORE from life.

2 comments:

Mimbres Man said...

Interesting article. Thanks for the link.

Yoday I bought breakfast empanada to a local "can man". He was digging through the garbage retrieving the aluminum cans, and fishing out half eaten empanadas. It bothered me that a person has to dig in garbage to get his food. When I was paying for my post-ride breakfast, I decided to by an extra to go, and gave it to the guy. He said "Thank you my friend." in English. It made me nervous that he spoke to me in English, but I felt okay about giving him some clean food.

Meanwhile a affluent family, (a sidewalk restaurant) leaning against their new BMW SUV treated the guy as invisible; equal to a street dog.
A very clever and sharp witted friend posted this quote this morning on FB in regards to an ongoing thread..."Blessed are the affluent, for they shall revel in indifference." It fit perfectly for the moment.

The contrast between the "can man" and "BMW Family" were as black and white as self-respect and self-esteem.

Mimbres Man said...

arrgh! The typos!
Yoday = Today
by = buy