it’s not so easy..
this wise statement is at once meaningful to those who can appreciate it and inconsequential to to those who don’t. which is exactly the problem with it.
reading this invocation to be strong and to not allow others to dictate your state of mind, i am at first filled with hope. i hope that people who are made to feel inferior by the ugly words of others will realize that inferiority is a CHANGEABLE state of mind. unfortunstely, a person’s state of mind is reactive to much that is happening around him. could we embrace certain emotions and opinions that surface, and reject others? is that something that we can succeed in doing at all times? what a world it would be if we did banish from our minds hate, and fear, sadness and discomfort!
sadly this is not the case. while some people are better than others at controlling their emotional state, and the possible actions that they take, everyone has times, when they are overwhelmed.
which brings us to the question. are you as inferior as you allow yourself to perceive?
can you choose to not yeild to what others tell you, justly or unjustly about yourself?
many people are told that they are inferior for a myriad of reason: race, gender, religion, appearance. they are subordinated by employers, bossed around by family members. they see sneers directed at them which they have grown accustomed to interpet as an admonishion, for some normative miscarriage, like being told you did a bad thing. they quickly associate the sneer and what it was admonishing, with something bad. they did a bad thing by BEING a sneered-upon something. in many cases, the opnions of others play such a degrading effect on the individual, that it starts to intentionally take up behavior that perpetuates and accentuates whatever it is that they feel inferior for.
how , then could they not feel inferior? how could they emerge from this trap?
sadly, many people never do.
but here the great Mrs. Rosevelt, hints at a solution. a person can be taught to disassociate their self-worth from the one that they are told they have. it is a hard lesson to learn. after all, we must not exist just the way we like it. there is a necessary level of conformity we must adhere to. a person needs to learn to internalize criticism when it is justly given, but not criticism that is set to intentionslly demean them.
an added complication would be who to listen to? what are the positive socializing agents in our development? how do you tell the difference? what if a loving family member, is at times supportive of some aspects of behavior, and yet dismissive or reproacheful of others?
how many parents chose intentionally to buy barbies and tea cups for girls and footballs and legos for boys? what does a developing child learn from this about their role in society? what if they ask for something and get an honest answer that there's no money or no time for more?
how does a person leran what to allow others to show them and what not?
how many did not learn this lesson well? or learned it the wrong way?
much of how we learn to interpret the world comes from others.