Me, Myself and I (Just the Three of Us)

Many of the folks inhabiting some of the circles that surround the edges of my life swear that it all started with the forty-ounce beer. Still others tell me that it was karoke that sparked the cosmic explosion of SELF which has emerged during the last two and one-half decades.

Whether it was the forty-ouncer or a Kroger’s clerk who thinks he’s Merle Haggard, one thing for sure: Nobody really makes love anymore; our society at-large is deeply involved in a sort of mental masturbation, easily done without a partner, easily done without a friend.

We need no one else to play games. Video games pit us, and our video skills, against cyber-enemies. We compete with no one but ourselves, ignoring the fact that competition is very much a part of the human spirit, and friendly competition is good for the soul. How can we come up higher, when high is measured only by our perception of it?

ipods provide us with a means to sink farther into ourselves aided by our favorite music. We can grab a forty-ouncer, sit in front of our favorite video game and listen to our own music while doing it. There is no reason to need anyone else for emotional gratification.

MySpace.com has brought self-indulgence to the highest level of hedonism. Diaries, which, in times-past, were meant for self-examination, and journals, meant to share events of our lives with select others, have been replaced by the testament of MySpace book of Self. We, who have spent a life-time desiring others to notice our extreme importance to the world, daily blog our wonderfulness out into cyber-space, picking up admirers as they, themselves, pick us up to admire them. Ego licking ego, licking ego, licking ego.

Self-help books, CDs and videos abound. Every topic from weight-loss to self-esteem is covered from all angles. Why are we so absorbed with ourselves? Do we really need all that help to make us happy? The more self-absorbed we become, the more isolated we become; the more isolated we become, the more apathetic we become - each of us an island unto himself - without a harbor

Is this what the Lord Jesus taught? No! He said, “Deny yourself and follow Me.” He also said, “Love one another as I have loved you.” I have yet to see books titles such as, “How you can help your neighbor think more highly of himself,” and, “What you can do to help eradicate loneliness in others.”

In today’s society, if we have a portion of compassion left over from ourselves, we seem to share it grudgingly and very selectively. Big eyed, starving orphans will win our sympathy far faster than a rheumy-eyed eighty-five year old who smells like urine and drags an oxygen cord behind like a tail. We will instinctively pick up a child and hug him, but recoil from an elderly person.

Self-esteem without conceit is good. Esteem for others and respect for their thoughts, values, spirit and soul is even better.