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Show hUmaN relationships i You are somebody! ByErma Jean Lee ' , nnbody, who are you? Are you "S-En.ilyDickiuson has not felt like Emily at some , "I'm nobody. No one loves me. Ukes me. I'm no good." Thank JJjbe feeling for most of us goes i henthesun disperses the fog, or sa id the ruts in the mucky road... or 1 rms up enough to get outside. "Lr these temporary feelings, the S'Sls that each of us is Pbodv-in our own way, with our jjts, our skills, hobbies, behavior, or ill weneed to take us out of ourselves 7 M or charisma of some famous gpasmVonTV, or elsewhere. is it that fame seems to give off of worth or success? Why is it Ltamffly of us, youth or adults, feel are nobodies compared to our S. in acting, music, religion, art, Jnlng, science, war' or Plltlcal jatory' and fantasy? Henn Winkler, better knows as "The Fob" is Potei by Pamela Swift in Lade Magazine in the column Ling up...with Youth. Henry is IL a talk to his alma mater, from thicb it is said, he just barely managed ograduate. Fame, however, made his est laziness and failures a forgotten nistake. Here are Henry's words which jjuela quotes: "A side benefit of eing a celebrity has been the enormous enor-mous amount of travel I do. As I rascross the country, I've seen a attern that has developed which stresses me. There is a lack of self-espect self-espect out there. It seems to me that x are very clearly taught as in-ividuals, in-ividuals, 'You are not good enough.' lo matter where I go in this country, eqile are always saying to me, 'I am a obody, and you are a somebody,' The ictis, that I'm a somebody because lions of nobodies out there like what do; ergo, the logic follows, I don't list..." (Can 'nobody' recognize cmebody?') "We live in a status society," Henry ks on, "coming from others, and we iust pass on the message that true ( fetus comes from the gift of life it-1 it-1 elL.Taking responsibility for our-fclves our-fclves relieves the need to put unfair Bpectations on anybody else. The fewer must, can, and will come from k capital 'I(Eye)' in all of us." Fame is not the light which makes us pebody.' Fame is what results when. 1 lelike Henry Winkler respects the gift ep? life itself. Fame results when we xept responsibility for ourselves, ten we devote time to evolving our lents "within" and begin to polish sm by work, education, vocational ; lining, and right human relationships Ith others who guide us in our growth, id in expanding our basic qualities. . line is the success one achieves when ork and self growth replaces "fear of ike." Dr. Alice Ginott tells of a teacher who nrks with delinquent boys: "Because (knew that success or failure hinged i his first meeting, he was very ap- S torsive. As he walked briskly to his k, he stumbled and fell. The class Bred with laughter. Harris ignored it, x.pse slowly, straightened up and said: " tot was my first lesson: A person can illflat on his-her face and still rise up Jain.'" This is the beauty of being human: can fall and rise again. Mrs. Ginott goes on to say : "We need 'learn not to let the opinion, nor the meveraents of others, affect our vior. We must not measure our selves by their standards, nor feel that unless we are better than others we are no good at all. It's important not to let others keep score for us or decide what our score should be. "Only when we set our own goals can we value and enjoy our achievements. It's not whether we are better than others but whether we are as good as we can be at least some of the time-that time-that makes for a pleasant life." Ruskinsaid: "The weakest among us has a gift, however seemingly trivial, which is peculiar to him-her, and which worthily used, will be a gift also to the race." Find your gift. Sort your in-. in-. terests, your qualities, your abilities and see encouragement as acceptance. A report in 1978 reads: "Utah teens who are non (drug) users score higher in happiness and levels of self-esteem. They are also more oriented toward success and responsibility. ..those who avoid drugs have statistically significantly better attitudes of acceptance ac-ceptance and belonging. They tend to identify and feel accepted by a wider group of people. Drug users tend to restrict their friendships to other users (and) tend to go to friends first with problems. Nonusers more often seek help from parents first." (Source: Utah Alcoholism Foundation Newsletter Vol. 9, No. 7) More in that issue, in essence: Religious teens are more likely to avoid drugs or alcohol and use their religious values to help them solve their problems. Teens tend to cease communication com-munication and show disrespect to parents who blame or moralize on errors of their young. They can teach them the problems of alcohol and drugs, but the choice of using or not using them is up to the teens themselves. them-selves. How often the rebellious person says: "I did not ask to be born!" Perhaps substajice abuse is a way to feel annihilated an-nihilated with a chance of coming back to life if one feels better than before? Experience may be the only way some youth can learn the fallacy of nihilism. As to whether or not we asked to be born: Can anyone of you swear to The Unknown that you did not ask to be born? Perhaps our trials, our feelings of being 'nobody' are exactly the training we need for our 'chosen' occupation or advocation in the future. The counselors, minister, teacher, bishop or wise friends may be just those we need to help us learn what we need to learn. This may be just the age and time to hear the Voice of Conscience, or sense the silent Presence of the Creator who sees us as precious who can kindly guide us on the upward path to "somebody-hood." By learning, ex:. periencing or seeking our knowledge of eternal truth, anyone or many of us may be chosen to teach infant souls or infant psyches now being born in this age. Dear Ones : Be brave in this wild, new world. You are somebody! Thought for the week: "To complain that life has no joys while there is a single creature whom we can relieve by our bounty, assist by our counsels, or enliven by our presence, is to lament the loss of that which we possess. This is just as rational as to die of thirst with a cup of water in our hands." Fitz-osborne. Fitz-osborne. Thought for a moment: "Minute events are the hinges on which magnificent results turn. In a watch, the smallest link, chain, rachet, cog or crank, is as essential as the mainspring itself. If one falls out, the whole will stand still." Charming. |