SELF-IMAGE

Some people feel a need to cover up a lack of self-confidence by trying to make a big impression. A newly promoted Army colonel moved into his new and impressive office. As he sat behind his new big desk, a private knocked at his door. “Just a minute,” the colonel said, “I’m on the phone.” He picked up the phone and said loudly, “Yes, sir, General, I’ll call the President this afternoon. No, sir, I won’t forget.” Then he hung up the phone and told the private to come in. “What can I help you with?” the colonel asked. “Well, sir,” the private replied, “I’ve come to hook up your phone.”1199

At twenty, we worry about what people think about us.

At forty, we don’t care what people think about us.

At sixty, we find out that people haven’t been thinking about us at all. 1200

“I have often wondered how it is that every man sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others. So much more respect have we to what our neighbors think of us than to what we think of ourselves” (Marcus Aurelius).1201

The famous actor Peter Sellers, who played in the “Pink Panther” movies, once said he lacked a personality. “As far as I’m aware, I’m nothing,” he once said. “I have no personality of my own whatsoever. I have no character to offer the public. I have nothing to project.” In spite of his notable professional image on the screen, Sellers saw himself as a person without an identity of his own.1202