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"I alone am left and they seek to take my life"
1 Kings 19:10
Self-pity, being sorry for oneself. Nothing is more destructive
of a person mentally and physically than self-pity. Many have
been so badly affected by it that their happiness has been
curtailed, their lives shortened and their usefulness diminished.
We should know of the danger of falling into that state of
mind where one may feel so dejected and defeated by life that
it is hardly worth the living. We have been acquainted with
those who were so depressed and devoid of self-worth that
they "turned their faces to the wall and died."
Sometimes they were aged, but there were the middle aged
and the young who preferred not to live, and to the horror
and grievous loss of relatives and friends took their own
lives. In many cases the deaths were the more mourned because
they had so much to give in personality and ability that their
loss hurt families and societies immeasurably. Their poor
valuation on themselves was not shared by those who knew,
loved, regarded and respected them.
Even when self-pity does not so adversely affect people that
they act so destructively it can bring unhappiness and illness
with their dire consequences to the person and the people
around him. It can be caused when someone feels unappreciated
when there is no praise for work well done and no recognition
that skill, craftsmanship and devotion to duty is important.
It is the case that employers and people generally are slow
to pay compliment, to praise or give credit where it is due.
Dissatisfaction and the criticism comes more readily to our
tongues. Most of us are quick to condemn poor workmanship;
slow to say well done when work is satisfactory.
Because that is what happens so often we need to learn early
that to be praised is such a luxury we should not expect to
receive it. We have to go on regardless, to do what we have
to do to a standard honest and honourable and without regret
that we are not doing our best.
"To thine own self be true
And it must follow, as the night the day
Thou canst not then be false to any man". Shakespeare.
That goes for everyone whether his task is menial or of the
highest order, where little abilities are enough or great
skills are needed.
Life is never easy for most people. We live in a world which
is often hungry, diseased and deprived of the essentials for
living healthily and properly. The responses to people in
distress whatever the causes from the well fed, clothed and
housed and in prosperous environments is much appreciated,
and especially when it helps the hungry to grow food, to clothe
and house themselves, to provide the opportunity by education
and training to fulfil themselves. Self-pity is easy and inertia
common when people are living in horrific circumstances. Aid
that is meant to do more than meet the needs of the calamitous
moment is what is likely to improve the quality of life effectively
and permanently for very many.
There is the constant need to change and improve the world,
for it is often one in which good is on the scaffold and evil
on the throne; of greed, poverty, persecution and injustice.
The good people who see the world as it is must determine
to strive to overcome its problems and not to be overcome
by them.
The task of the Christian is to do what he can to make the
world the better for his presence in it. The Christian gospel
is the story of how God changes the world through Christ and
people whose lives are changed by Him.
The story of Elijah is apt. He was a good man, a man of God,
but faced with the possibility of failure in his work for
Him he became so distressed that he ran away and hid himself
praying that God would take his life. He felt defeated, devastated,
alone in his fight for a just cause and self-pity made him
miserable. He got no sympathy just persuasion to go on with
his work when God told him that what seemed impossible would
be successfully accomplished. He was not alone there were
others in the fight with him. The story had a happy ending.
When we feel ill-treated and unappreciated God tells us to
forget ourselves and to do what we must do selflessly and
willingly. There are always the comfortable words of Jesus,
"Lo, I am with you always."
Someone said, "The Christian life is not a cruise but
a crusade and the crown goes only to those who bear the cross."
Rev. Canon Dr. S.E. Long
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