fever's gonna catch you when the bitch gets back

What was known as "feeling insecure" in the Seventies, became known instead as "low self-esteem" during the Eighties (Oprah-influenced).

One day I heard someone say, "Low self-esteem is the root of all evil" and it was sort of like an epiphany.  Like -- wow, could you actually have an over-arching, sound understanding of the nature of evil by understanding such a simple, short sentence?

"Low self-esteem is the root of all evil." 
The man who said this was on the TV show "Northern Exposure" -- he was a Native American -- I think it was the actor Graham Greene ("Thunderheart"; "Dances With Wolves")....

He makes that statement,
"Low self-esteem is the root of all evil,"
and the other person reacts like he doesn't quite get it,
and
Greene's character continues, with a clipped, brisk cadence:
"You-think-Hit-ler-liked-him-self??"

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Do you think
that

Hitler

liked himself?"

Now there was a question I had never contemplated.

But I caught up to what he meant, and thought about it sometimes, later....
Like -- when a person tries to --
put down,
or
hold down,
or
press down

people around them,
sometimes it's because the person --
the presser --
is trying to be the "top" --

only they're going about it sort of "back-ass-wards" -- instead of trying to be

successful,
or
to do well,
by
Doing Well --
i.e., Working Hard and Well,
Focusing, and
Putting One's Mind to it, in a Positive Way
and

truly

accomplishing something --

instead, they try to be
"the top"
by putting others
"down."

Which doesn't work and that tends to make them angrier, leading to
Downward spiral.

----------------------- These notes are connected to something else that occurs to me semi-frequently:  the idea of ever being "better" than anyone is, like, such a total fallacy, and yet there are unfortunately people who spend
precious
and
finite
reserves of Time and Energy attempting to show that they are "better" than someone.

All bigotry and
most
meanness is based on that.

And the thing is, no one is "better" because you can always switch the criteria.

If I stand next to a man I know, and a panel of judges was supposed to compare us and decide which one of us was "better" than the other, well -- how would they decide?

If being female is "better" than being male,
then they would have to decide that I was better.

If being a man is "better" than being a woman,
then the judges would say he was better.

If the person is better who knows more of Bob Dylan's music,
then I would be better.

If the criteria is, Who can weld better (or at all)
then he would be "better."

Ping-pong:
I win.

Motorcycle-riding:
he wins.

Gray hair:
he's better.

Highlighted hair:
I'm "better."

This is what I'm saying, the entire concept of being "better" is an endless cornucopia of meaningless mindlessness, a waste of human resources -- i.e., Time, Energy, Money, whatever.

=============== There, humankind!  It's the second week of April and I've done away with bigotry and meanness and evil.  Granted, those aren't easy jobs, but someone had to do it.

You're welcome.

(Now, need Diet Coke....)

-30-