The things children say really are amazing. If we listen to their pure honesty and their simple sayings, we can learn so much and humble ourselves. "From the mouths of babes," as the saying goes, we are enlightened and reminded of simpler times.
When I was in St. George for my weekend, my family and I were walking along a trail to a nature preserve that the city has built. Two of my nephews were racing each other, when Caleb told Zach, "You can't beat me. Only I can beat me." Sounds simple, but as I thought about it all day, the truth of what Caleb said started to sink in more and more.
In our capitalistic and consumer driven society, we word hard to excel and often to be better than everyone else. We buy bigger houses, bigger cars, and better electronics to show off how much better off we are than Jon and Jane Doe down the street. We push and push ourselves to not be beaten by anyone else because we feel some necessity in being better than others. This is the American Dream.
I don't know about the psyche of anyone else, but I know my own thoughts. I know now that I allow the success of others, even my own siblings, to judge my own self-worth. I defeat myself by allowing the success of others to define me. I look at my siblings with good jobs, houses, children, and spouses and think that God would bless them over me because of my black sheep status within our particular flock.
I have allowed me to put myself down because I have been weighing success on what I don't have; I am more concerned with what others have over seeing my own successes. I am allowing me to defeat me. But something needs to change. Something is changing inside me. I am learning that life is not a contest to see who is better than whom. I am seeing for myself that there should be no other basis for comparison other than myself.
I may not have all the things that my siblings have, but that doesn't mean I can't have them. My story is only coming to fruition. The pieces of my puzzle are only now coming together. I can't expect perfection from a picture with pieces missing. As I think about what Caleb said, I will do my best to remember that "only I can defeat me" and I am not going to allow my own self-defeat. I am a winner and I will not be defeated.
When I was in St. George for my weekend, my family and I were walking along a trail to a nature preserve that the city has built. Two of my nephews were racing each other, when Caleb told Zach, "You can't beat me. Only I can beat me." Sounds simple, but as I thought about it all day, the truth of what Caleb said started to sink in more and more.
In our capitalistic and consumer driven society, we word hard to excel and often to be better than everyone else. We buy bigger houses, bigger cars, and better electronics to show off how much better off we are than Jon and Jane Doe down the street. We push and push ourselves to not be beaten by anyone else because we feel some necessity in being better than others. This is the American Dream.
I don't know about the psyche of anyone else, but I know my own thoughts. I know now that I allow the success of others, even my own siblings, to judge my own self-worth. I defeat myself by allowing the success of others to define me. I look at my siblings with good jobs, houses, children, and spouses and think that God would bless them over me because of my black sheep status within our particular flock.
I have allowed me to put myself down because I have been weighing success on what I don't have; I am more concerned with what others have over seeing my own successes. I am allowing me to defeat me. But something needs to change. Something is changing inside me. I am learning that life is not a contest to see who is better than whom. I am seeing for myself that there should be no other basis for comparison other than myself.
I may not have all the things that my siblings have, but that doesn't mean I can't have them. My story is only coming to fruition. The pieces of my puzzle are only now coming together. I can't expect perfection from a picture with pieces missing. As I think about what Caleb said, I will do my best to remember that "only I can defeat me" and I am not going to allow my own self-defeat. I am a winner and I will not be defeated.
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