American's Self-esteem

 I don't even want to write this because I will have to think, and it is much easier on this slow day to sit scrolling through my Facebook and checking, irrationally, on the internet every five minutes for a Biden win. You know the page, the one that is frozen in time and space. However, this is the result of a 4:45 brain wake-up call, so I think I have to pay heed and attack the thoughts that are developing in my head on the subject of American's self-esteem.  We have a problem.

If I were still in my early twenties, I would not know we have a problem because I did not know I had a problem. However, due to hardheadedness and a strong voice, I have learned much about self-esteem. Those lessons accelerated because I put myself in many situations that forced me to realize that  I am not always "all that", and I don't have "all the answers". It has been humbling, to say the least, but it has, also, built into me a stronger and more peaceful character. I like to think those characteristics are a product of strong self-esteem and not pure narcissism. I always say there is a fine line between narcissism and confidence. This sounds very personal, but my personal lessons when ratcheted up to a national scale bring me to my point about Americans.

A multitude of Americans have a self-esteem problem. We have been sold a bill of goods through media of all sorts that has chipped away at our self-esteem for as long as I can remember, which is about sixty-one years. We have put our sites on the accumulation of wealth and "stuff" and compared ourselves and found ourselves lacking if we do not measure up to whom we used to call "the Jones's". We have let educators tell us that if we do not comprehend Algebra or we take five years instead of two years to learn to read, we are somehow lacking. We have idolized movie stars and now real TV actors and football players and basketball players and everyone in the fields that make money in overwhelming quantities without realizing how incredibly valuable our public servants are at ALL levels and that value should be reflected in a fair monetary reward at all levels.  We have devalued essential workers who run this country that may have never stepped foot into a college and never will. It is necessary to have flagmen on the highway during construction and someone to pick up our garbage on a regular basis and LPN's and janitorial crews and bartenders and service staff, and I am going to stop because the list is too long for multiple pages. We have somehow decided that it is far more "valuable" to shoot a basket with a flair than to remove waste from a community or clean trash from the ocean. That valuation we have entrenched into our souls at every level has led to an American epidemic of low self-esteem. I am not at all saying that individuals are not responsible for the outcomes of their lives, but I am saying that as a society, we have let ourselves down tremendously by misplacing our value system and therefore displacing our incredible human resources.

What happens to people with low self-esteem? From my personal experience, I can tell you this. They tend to make less wise decisions. They tend to attach themselves to "saviors"; they tend to follow instead of lead; they tend to put themselves in abusive relationships without a clue as to their self-motivation, and they tend to idolize and be fooled by thoughtless individuals who use them and then cast them aside.  Only then do they pick themselves up and start the cycle all over again. 

It sounds terrible to think that we are in this position as Americans, but it is not terrible at all. It is human. It is why we are on this journey. I am thankful for my foolishness because it taught me wisdom. It is why "earth school" was given to us as part of our journey, and most importantly, it is why we can overcome and grow from each hurtful episode we both deliberately and inadvertently step into. At the end of each episodic failure is an outpouring of Grace just waiting for us to grab hold. For that Grace, I am eternally grateful, and because of that Grace, I know Americans can move forward from this day with boldness and wisdom and thoughtful collaboration. We can make our future bright and strong for our children and their children and...

Peace. Love, Linda