"It wasn't that this veterinary didn't like animals. I think he didn't like himself, and when that is so the subject usually must find an area for dislike outside himself. Else he would have to admit his self-contempt." John Steinbeck "Travels with Charley in Search of America."
I have often wondering why some people are, for lack of a better term, mean. Why do they find it necessary to belittle others and try to pick a fight whether physical or verbal. I think that John Steinbeck hit on something here. These people are not happy with themselves. They have a certain self-loathing that they cannot get over. Whether they are not happy with their career, marriage, or simply who they are as a person, they cannot admit this to others. That would hurt their pride. Instead they project this hate onto something or someone else. It seems to me to be a unique method of not admit this self-hatred but at the same time getting others to agree, " yes you are worth hating." I guess what this boils down to, as with most problems in the world and in Sunday School, the answer is Jesus. They need to see that despite themselves and their short comings they are worth loving and there is an unconditional love just waiting for them if they would only accept the love of Jesus.
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2 comments:
I've thought that the reason people were mean was because they had some kind of insecurity, and were trying to make themselves feel better somehow, but the thought that through their meaness is a way for getting others to agree that they are worth hating, is probobally more accurate.
Either way you look at it, it makes it easier to forgive a person for being mean.
I love John Steinbeck. Almost as much as I love Los Booterbaugh. Fin.
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