Gerald D'Cunha

S elf-importance and Self-respect are different - as different as chalk and cheese. Self-respect is healthy; self-importance is not. I think, all of us have this chalk-and-cheese stuff tucked inside us. If self-respect outweighs self-importance, it’s good for us, as well as for people around us. On the other hand, if our self-importance outweighs our self-respect, it’s bad for all of us. Often, we fail to recognize if a certain behavior of ours stems from our self-respect or self-importance. In that lies a lot of our misery, too… Let me not talk about others. I am nobody – in fact, too mortal a soul – to judge others. I am aware how frequently I throw my weight in my class room… when I use my temper and tantrum, when I am driven by impatience, when I act with intolerance. It, certainly, can’t be coming from my self-respect. It’s coming from my deep sense of insecurity, the area I haven’t still worked on fully; rather, I haven’t completely gotten o...