love

I painted peace

I had a box of colors —
bright, alive and bold
I had a box of colors —
some warm, some very cold.
I didn’t have red for the blood of the wounded
I didn’t have black for the cry of the orphans
I didn’t have white for the face of the dying
I didn’t have yellow for the burning sands.
But, I had orange for the joy of life;
and green for the shoots and nests
and blue for blue skies
and pink for dreams and rest
I sat down and painted peace.

By a young female,
Sacred Heart School, Uganda

What is self-esteem? There are several definitions of the word. According to Oxford Dictionary self- esteem is confidence in one’s own worth or abilities. Psychologists consider that self-esteem reflects a person’s overall evaluation or appraisal of his or her own worth. Emotions and beliefs create human self-esteem and self-esteem itself determines human behavior.

There are two kinds of self-esteem: low and high. A person has low self-esteem if he considers that he/she is ugly, too tall, too short, fat or when he does not have full confidence in own potential and abilities. Low self-esteem prevents a person to achieve goals, set challenges and overcome them.

High self-esteem means that a person has objective understanding of his/her abilities or disabilities but if a person has high self-esteem but lacks self- confidence he tends to be narcissus. It is very difficult to communicate with a person who suffers from narcissism. He thinks always very high of himself and does not see his own personality from objective point of view.

To my mind, moderation is the best. Everyone should give objective evaluation to one’s appearance, character and abilities and change it for the better if it will raise his self-esteem.

There are several issues that might cause person’s low self-esteem:

Family and parents play big role in the formation of a child’s self-esteem. It is scientifically proven fact that the more adults, parents in particular, say to a child that he is stupid the more chances are he will grow up a stupid man. Encouragement helps children to grow self - confident people.

Respect of peers is also crucial in developing positive self-esteem. Bullying at schools is very pressing problem in the West. The instances when a group of bullies oppress weak pupils are very frequent. As for Georgia, the violence among school children is also high. Bullying is not rare in Georgian schools but there is another form of violence that distresses me: confrontation of two or more groups of boys that often has lethal consequences. In recent years several minors were killed during fights between peers. The violence at schools I think is caused by the overall stressful situation in the country and children’s ambition to show off.

I think a person's self-esteem does not depend on its gender. Both man and woman might suffer from low self-esteem. As mentioned above low self-esteem can be caused by dissatisfaction with own outlook. This is particularly pressing problem in present day world where many people are obsessed with Hollywood stars, their appearance, and style of living and they try their utmost to look like them.

Many people consider that if other people respect them, they will feel themselves more self- confident. This is partially true but I think a person’s self-confidence can not be given only by other people. You must earn, attain it yourself. Self-confidence comes from inside of a person. For instance, you have a low self-esteem and you met one person or many that believe in you and your abilities, your self-esteem is raised but when you find yourself in a hostile environment, if you do not have self-confidence and high self-esteem this environment might destroy you emotionally and deteriorate your self-esteem.

Therefore, I think if you do not believe in yourself no one can give you the feeling of self-confidence by saying that you are a good person or something of that kind. High-self-esteem can help you overcome problems with less emotional damage.

To my mind, low self-esteem can be caused by oppression, harassment or humiliation by other people or community or in some cases by the whole society. For instance, there are some marginalized groups such as sexual minorities, Roma people, former prisoners and some others in Georgia that are mistreated and neglected.

People of various ethnicity, religion and social affiliation differ in their perception of the world. If representatives of various religions, ethnic or other groups do not try to find common grounds with each other they might get involved in conflict and cause the deterioration of self-esteem of individual representatives of these groups.

Willingness to listen to people of other cultures and try to understand them or simply realize that difference is not bad is presupposition to peaceful development of any society.

1. Take time to pray, it is the greatest power on earth

2. Take time to think, it is the source of power.

3. Take time to play, it is a secret of perpetual youth.

4. Take time to read, it is fountain of wisdom.

5. Take time to work, it is price of success.

6. Take time to be friendly, it is the road to happiness.

7. Take time to love and to be loved, it is God given grace.

8. Take time to give, it is too short a day to be selfish.

9. Take time to laugh, it is the music of the soul.