Contrary to the politically correct doctrine of today that self-esteem comes from telling yourself,"I *am* somebody," true self esteem comes from legitimate acomplishments and overcoming challenges.
I could not agree more.
I have found that there are generally two reasons why people can make us feel inferior:
1) In the regard to which the person is making us feel this way, it is because we are inferior. The way to cope with this is to learn a valuable lesson and smarten up. Ignorant about scientific issues? Study them. Going to a wine seminar, sewage party, mechanics orgy, tabby cats reunion next week? Buy a book or get advice. make sure you are not ignorant then a sense of inferiority will not be an issue. Get a shy person talking about their hobbies and they will suddenly blossom confidently.
The most tragic cases are those who are inferior to others, often due to intellectual laziness, arrogance or just an unfortunate sleight of life, and yet are not aware of their own position.
At the risk of receiving a through trouncing (to quote Vinny), I'm going to disagree with two of my favorite posters here.
There are many, intelligent, accomplished people who have low-self esteem and are driven to constantly prove they are "a somebody" with greater and greater accomplishments and challenges. That is not self-esteem. That is ego masquerading as self-esteem. We will all die more ignorant than aware as there is too much for any one person to become an expert at much in this life.
As someone else mentioned, there will always be somebody superior and somebody inferior to you in every aspect of life, (physical, intellectual, financial, educational, etc.) True self-esteem is to be found in letting go of such comparisons entirely and refusing to contest in games of someone else's making. Rather, focus on one's natural aptitudes and developing what one enjoys to the fullest without regard for other's opinions.
Those ignorant, whether due to laziness, or sleight of life, may appear tragic to others, but may be the happiest of us all (ignorance is bliss). In my observation, happiness is often inversely proportionate to intelligence. The more we know, the more we know what we are missing and the more we want.
2) If we are feeling a sense of inferiority not due to ignorance but due to internal emotional struggles, then we are making ourselves feel inferior and need to get a sense of reality about who we are and what we want in life. Life is far, far too short to worry about imagniary failings.
This part is right on the money, IMO.
Cog (please don't spank me too hard now, Hillary!)
