Why Self-importance Is Worse than a War

Five people are arguing about who of them is of more importance than the other. The point of conflict is a parking slot that can only be allocated to one of them for the year.

The doctor says that without him, everyone who gets sick will most likely die and therefore, he must have the slot as his is a matter of life and death.

The lawyer insists that he is the most deserving of them all for, without him, all the rest are bound to lose money if a lawsuit is filed against them.

The structural engineer feels important because his services can save lives now that a compulsory inspection of all buildings in the CBD was ordered following the recent earthquake that measured 9.00 on the Richter scale.

The inspector of police is quite insistent on his claim to the slot because the crime rate is so high that he is required to step in daily.

Finally, the farmer feels he is the most deserving of the slot because he must deliver fresh produce to the restaurants on that street quite early. He is willing to share it with anyone else after he is gone for the day. He feels that he should get allocated the parking space because he lives furthest from the town. Everyone else, he argues has an abundance in the choice of means of transport into town.

Eventually, the farmer carried the day.

He gladly paid for it and went on with his business. The rest were evidently spooked by the decision.

So, was any one of the five really greater than the others? Of course not, but as it turned out, the council official gave the slot to the farmer because all the others had at one time acted condescendingly toward him. The farmer had always approached the official politely as he sought the slot.

Your profession is only as important to others to the extent that you treat them. Self-respect is not a euphemism for self-importance. Brilliant professionals are taken down by their egos every day. It must be left at home like a second pair of undergarments. They are to be worn and not to be seen by others.

The test for self-importance is simple. If you feel irritated by the authority of others when they are simply doing their job, then your sense of entitlement is powered by negative energy.

It matters not how much you have accomplished. Those remain personal victories that make no one else subservient to you as a result of them, or while still on the road to such tasty achievements.

People who attach a premium to self-importance are often found sucking up to people they deem of great importance to society. The problem here is that they expect the same of others towards them and hit the roof when it isn't forthcoming.

The amount of energy expended by people with this negative trait is immense and can destroy an entire organisation. Misdirected energy must never be allowed to destroy the great work of the studious people before them.

Many bosses who disguise themselves as undercover detectives, learn tons of stuff about their staff. One guy was asked to literally f**k off by a junior staffer. Later that afternoon, a meeting was called and the business owner asked the guy to tell everyone what he had said to him in the morning.

The tongue-tied man froze and sweated profusely on realizing that his mistake bore direct consequences on him.

Let us aspire for a sense of self-respect and allow everyone else to enjoy their work, for self-importance is worse than war.