'Self-worth'

‘You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!’ (Psalm 139:13-16)

 

Almost two months ago I read with sadness that the famous actor and comedian, Robin Williams, apparently ended his life by committed suicide. It came as a surprise that the man who brought the world laughter, had been battling for severe depression for some time.

 

It is obvious that things are definitely getting better for most people with living standards going up and people are living much longer. We are in material utopia but unhappy lots. The great philosopher Aristotle ascribes high value to happiness when he defines it as a ‘highest good’. In his book, The Progress Paradox, Gregg Easterbrook concludes that the more progress a society is, the more its people are unhappy by looking at the number of depressed cases.

 

I think a person who struggled with his self-worth can never be a happy person. Too often people let other used yardsticks such as popularity, wealth, performance to judge his own significance. These are all ‘fluid’ parameters that are fleeting. How we value a person should be much more than that.

 

Easterbrook suggests some antidotes to unhappiness- to be optimistic, to show gratitude and acts of forgiveness. All these can make life more fulfilling, not only for oneself, but also for others. They give meaning and purpose to one’s existence. To the Christians, self-worthiness is never an issue as we are made by God and for God in his image with eternity destiny. Our worth is not really of the ‘self’ but the worth given to us by God as His children.