We are often told that self-esteem is important. In the words of my spiritual master RuPaul: “If you don’t love yourself, how the hell you gonna love somebody else?”
I sense, however, that the modern American capacity for self-esteem has gone hog wild.
Some years ago, my boss (this was several bosses ago) completed her MBA over a period of two years or so, studying on nights and weekends. This is a very worthy things to do, and I congratulated her when she got her degree. She smiled humbly. “Thanks,” she said. “It really is an amazing accomplishment.”
Ding! Self-esteem activated!
Here’s another one: a few years ago, I was having a brief orientation meeting with a new employee. I noted the long list of publications and other accomplishments that accompanied his resume. “That’s very impressive,” I said.
He smiled. “Thank you,” he said. “I know.”
Ding ding!
And, finally, this, from just a few days ago:
I was on the University shuttle. Two medical students were sitting behind me, chatting noisily. One had been, in his undergraduate days, a football player for a large school in the Pacific Northwest. “People ask you for autographs all the time when you’re a college football player,” he told his companion, who was apparently really eating this stuff up. “You know. In restaurants and everything. Some of the guys are really stuck up about it, they don’t like people talking to them. I thought it was great.”
Later, the conversation turned to The Game Itself. “There’s a lot more to playing football than people think,” Football Hero said. “It’s complicated. The playbook was like this – “ (He must had demonstrated how big it was with his hands; I wanted to look, but had no excuse for twisting around in my seat.) “And you have to memorize the whole thing.”
“Wow!” his companion breathed. “How long did it take you to memorize it?”
Football Hero mused for a moment. “About a month,” he said finally. “It takes normal people about a year.”
Ding ding ding ding ding!
I nearly blacked out.
Well, that’s all for today.
(And, if I do say so myself, this is an astoundingly well-written blog entry.)
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