Self- Esteem

What is your opinion yourself? We as humans often judge other people and their decisions, but we also judge ourselves. When we judge ourselves approvingly we have a high self-esteem, or we could be disapproving of our own character, which results in low self-esteem. Having a higher self esteem is naturally more advantageous then having a low self-esteem. 

Lauren Slater attempts to make an argument against holding a high self-esteem, which is one of the pillars of American mentality. She claims that having  a high opinion of one's self will only lead to disappointment, and having low expectations will result in surprising achievement.  Almost every physiologist handles patients by giving them self worth.If a person does not value themself, how can they live life? Slater uses studies that show people with higher self opinions seem to be more abusive. The truth is that these people don't have too much self-esteem, but rather they do not value others. If Americans began to listen to Slater the county would fall into a state of turmoil.

If everyone began to have low-self esteem and disapprove of themselves the world would be turned upside down. This goes against everything we are taught since we are born. We are rewarded and told not to be excessively angry with ourselves.  People would go into a state of mass depression. No one would have goals, and there would be no respect for life. Every human being would consider themselves, and thus all others, as worthless. As this happens violence would be everywhere. People cannot learn the value of the life of another, if they do not value their own life.

Having respect for one's self is vital to living life. Showing self-respect is an obvious path towards misery. Slater is right that too much self respect can lead to problems. If one is overly confident, it can lead to extreme disappointment. This could also lead to a cocky personality, and its hard to be friends with that type of self-centered person. 

Self-esteem, like most other things, is good in moderation. One should have the confidence to make and try to achieve goals, but if these goals are not accomplished they must not get too down on them-self. Having low self-esteem and expectations is not the answer to being disappointed. One must simply remember that anything is possible, and just because they might fail at something does not make them a bad person.