Questions, haunting your mind, crushing your bleeding heart
Answers, from nowhere you can hear, tearing at your hallowed soul
Teachings never taught and lessons left for someone else to impart
Were all you ever needed to rise up out of your unholy hole

You are beyond understanding why you are forty and alone
But the confidence missing from your soul is a dark beacon to all
A shadow escaping from you leads to a light you'll never be shown
Warning of the destiny into which you have no choice but to fall

You feel like God has you under his thumb, forcing you to sin
Searching forever for answers writing poems you cannot sing
You won't find what's missing because it's never been within
You fail before you even begin because self-esteem is everything

07/18/2003

Author's Note: Self-Esteem Is Everything! It is tied into so many aspects of life that is difficult to know where to begin. But then, the beginning is the very place that self-esteem is formed. So what better place to start than childhood; and who better to build it in the child than parents? That is why discussing it in the context of family is so important. Having self-esteem or not, affects everything even though in reality, it is not everything. Its presence makes all things possible; it makes the unlikely achievable, even when all odds are against success. Without self-esteem, failure is the final destination of all things tried. One thing often mistakenly used to build self-esteem is pride. Pride does not build confidence, but creates arrogance instead. Arrogance is reckless and feeds the hatred that pride spreads over the souls of good people, luring them down pathways to darkness. The difficulty is to build confidence without allowing it to become a glutton for the powerful rush that pride provides. This is where parents seem unprepared, or unwilling, to work as hard as they should to teach their children what they must learn to become independent, thriving individuals. It’s a repetitious cycle that can be ended very simply by giving parenting classes to young teenagers, before they themselves become parents. The key is to impress upon future parents, the importance of self-esteem and ways to instill it in their children. Also, just as important, are the things that can damage self-esteem, or worse, turn their children into insecure victims. Without the strength to stand against the competition in life, others will achieve the goals they had hoped to attain for themselves. Without the confidence to take chances, they won’t take the necessary steps to succeed at the things they desire most out of life.

Posted on 09/27/2005
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