So the news is out. After years of study experts have discovered that it’s high self-esteem that poses a bigger threat to society than low. In fact low self-esteem seems to pose very little real threat to civilization. On some level didn’t we already know this? The insufferably self-assured student asking the dumbest questions and wasting everyone’s time in school, the politician who thinks his stories are funny and the jock who sneers at all of his weak underlings come to mind.
For the writer the highly egotistical, pushy jerk is incredibly fun to write about. People with no humility, brimming with blind ambition screw over everyone. Their dazzling lack of boundaries keeps the other characters off kilter but strangely attracted to the whirlwind of hubris. My husband asked recently if my character Fred Crenshaw (Buck’s volatile brother) would ever be redeemed. I laughed. No way in hell.
People like him very rarely change. They have high regard for themselves. They love themselves and have great pride in their accomplishments, but if we think about it we see that this regard is really the root of all bad behavior.
Do you have high self-esteem? Are you a danger? Please report yourself to the authorities.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubris
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/03/magazine/the-trouble-with-self-esteem.html
Author Adrienne Morris 
13 responses to ““People with high self-esteem pose a greater threat to those around them than people with low self-esteem.” Lauren Slater”
In my last post my husband’s high self esteem almost got us killed! LOL.
LikeLike
I’ve been so busy with ducks and maple syrup, I’ve fallen behind in my reading. I look forward to reading about your near death experience 🙂
LikeLike
lol….ducks? My husband drinks a half gallon of maple syrup on his vanilla ice cream about every week or two. I think Publix stocks it in huge quantities just for him. Lots of hard work in the making.
LikeLike
That gets expensive! haha, But it tastes so good. My husband and I tend to feed off each other on big projects so it went from the idea of tapping a few trees to tapping a whole forest full. 🙂 It’s nice having something in late winter to get you outside. The final run is called the “frog run” because when you hear the peepers there’s no more sap 🙂
LikeLike
That’s interesting. I am reminded of how my grandmother “read” the signs with her gardening and the weather. It’s all scientific now.
LikeLike
For the last month we’ve been reading the weather reports because sap weather is when it freezes at night and gets above freezing during the day–every week so far the experts have been wrong 🙂
LikeLike
While in the Navy, one of the guys made an odd first choice for his volleyball team — me, Everyone looked puzzled and he simply said, “my teams win”.
I’m not a great individual athlete, but teams who involve me — win He was good leader. I don’t have the persona for leadership. Confidence isn’t a gift or liability in my case. People will see me as cocky or say I lack confidence. Neither is true.
This seems hard for people to understand, but I have mixed feelings about winning. My teams won because i try to do what is right at the moment. I don’t plan to win and barely care if I do. Too much or too little confidence will make teams lose.
Someone made a great summation about me — I’m different and confidence isn’t really the issue.
LikeLike
I like that statement 🙂 I hadn’t even thought about sports. Hmm. I guess low self-esteem people can still be driven to win as a way to prove prove something. My feeling is that it’s when you forget about yourself completely then you find true peace (I’m talking about ego). It sounds like when you’re living in the moment, just doing what comes up at the time it actually brings success to you.
LikeLike
And how are the ducklings these days?
LikeLike
They are adorable, of course–though they’re making a huge mess of things in the garage. This weekend we are putting them in the woodshed (with the heating lamp just in case they get cold. 🙂 They started quacking this week. One is less skittish than the rest–I guess it will be our favorite!
LikeLike
Very best of luck–ducks are messy but oh so fun!
LikeLike
guilty
LikeLike
Off to the gallows, Terry! haha.
LikeLike