Your Self-esteem May Be Showing

One lesson I am learning from the bus is we may be letting our self-esteem show. I heard a bus rider say one day, “that driver thinks he’s a hot shot.” Much of who we are shows up in our attitude toward others. In psychology it is called projection. We project onto others what is really a reflection of how we feel about ourselves.  As for the statement above, I was thinking possibly this person wants to be the hot shot and he is jealous of someone else being in charge where he isn’t. No one really knows. But many times when frustrated with our own lives, we tend to blame someone else.

We may not truly appreciate the privilege we have to even have a bus system. We may not realize how much it costs to run a public transit service. What does one bus cost to purchase?  What it costs in fuel for one bus to run all day. Then add costs to maintain routes, such as the drivers, mechanics, support people.  It takes a lot of money.  Fed money, city money, fare money just to keep a bus on the streets. The cost over fares is enormous. So, I appreciate that a bus even comes close to where I live. If more used the bus,  it could help cover some expenses. Compared to costs of driving a personal car, it’s quite a deal. With more using public transit all of us could benefit.

Back to “your self-esteem may be showing.”

For a person to have a productive self esteem it takes three things:

1.  A self-esteem boost.

2. Realization of your own gifts and abilities.

3. Someone cheering you on.

Very likely, the bus-rider culture lifestyle doesn't get much of this. No one is boosting or reaffirming their notable qualities; they don’t see or realize they have personal gifts; and few are cheering them on, if any.

What does a person do when this is not present? They complain and blame. They do this out of frustration because they feel they can’t do anything about it. They lack recognition of having any personal power or tapping into their abilities to proactively do something that positively affects their lives and others.

We can do the above three things for the bus rider, and each other in business, family and friends.  By doing this, we can positively affect all aspects of our culture, and not create a contagious infection. In every person-to-person interaction if we reaffirmed a person's value, commended their unique gifts and abilities, and cheered them on, we would see dramatic improvement on all personal relationships … and live more fulfilled and happy lives.
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The bus culture is one key to rebuilding a weakened society. Lift up the weak and it strengthens what can be strong.

“Consider how to encourage and spur each other on to doing good things.”

(Hebrews 10:24)