Well I gave my presentation on Robert Burns last week, it went pretty well, thanks for asking. So now I can come back to this article that gave me quite a lot to think about.
As the writer, Mark Sherman says, Burns’ poem To a Louse is about pretensions, and having no idea what others think of you. Sherman turned it around to think about how often he had no idea of the positive things that people thought of him.
In Dutch they have some sayings that advise people not to be out of the ordinary and catch the attention of others. One such, “doe maar gewoon, dan doe je al gek genoeg” can be translated as “Act normal, that’s crazy enough. Another advises against “je hoofd boven het maaiveld steken” as a head above the cornfield is likely to get cut off. This advice strikes a chord with me, I think people from my part of Scotland have much the same attitude.
The sad thing about this advice is that it is not allowing anyone to show their potential, their uniqueness, their special talents. It also leads to people having low self-esteem and having no idea of their impact on society around them.
As Sherman said in his article: “I don’t know about you, but my problem has not been that I’ve walked around…, imagining all the world thinks I’m just something special. Rather, it’s more often been the opposite. I’ve felt that I haven’t accomplished enough in my life, haven’t done as well in my work as I could have, and have not been a good enough husband, father, or friend. But one thing I’ve done to try to help me feel better about myself is to try to see myself as others see me.”
So my advice today is: Try to see yourself as others see you from a positive point of view. Remember the times you put yourself out for others. Remember the good things you have done. Remember the positive feedback you have received from others; that you modestly put to the back of your mind. Let your head stick up above the cornfield once in a while!
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