EXPERIENCES SHAPE ATTITUDE & HEROISM MATTERS - QUESTIONS POP UP IN MY MIND

I am reasonably sure that all of us agree with the notion that experiences shape attitude. We also may agree that there are elements, dimensions and factors in different life-situations that are either within and beyond our control.

After meeting several people in this lifetime so far from different walks of life and backgrounds, patterns seem to emerge where individuals who have gone through highly difficult situations or tough challenges and overcome them successfully, tend to demonstrate proportionately higher self-esteem…..bordering on ego.  The dividing line between high self-esteem and ego appears so blurred that I am tempted to assume that both are synonymous, but others may have a different opinion. In extreme cases, the higher self-esteem level seems to manifest as super-confidence leaning towards arrogance. Humility seems to hide in the shadows. Is this true? I want to be absolutely non-judgmental here.

Is there a correlation between the degree of difficulty in life-situations and the individual’s self-esteem level? Or is there a causality? I am not sure. By the way, correlation and causality are not identical.

 I have also been part of several coffee-table group conversations where one individual in a group has tried to prove that his difficulties in life are more challenging than those of the other. Some of these discussions ended up in competing arguments leading to contests for the invisible “level-of-challenge medal" in the groups. No prizes for guessing who won….

I wonder how Viktor Frankl actually felt after surviving his wartime experiences.

There appears to be a deeply embedded and genetically coded desire to attain the status of a hero in most, if not all of us – conquering a steep challenge, overcoming a severe difficulty, solving a recalcitrant problem etc. and advertising success thereafter.

Amen to that!