Sorry if I have so many names for you, DessertCart, but I saw a new one in this quote from Texmaster:
"In just 100 posts you have been able to alienate over 90% of people here simply by displaying your arrogance and unwillingness to accept responsibility when you have failed. Its a sad existence you have when if prepetuate these characteristics outside of this forum and the more you deny it and repeat your own accomplishments, the more obvious it becomes."
It occurred to me from the desparate need for you to accept responsibility and admit failure that you are Bill Clinton. And he too said he wanted to focus on his job and help the American people.
It seems to me there's a lot of people confusion over what is self confidence and what is ego mania or Napoleon syndrome.
The ones who drive us most up the tree are the ones in whom we most see ourself.
The wonderful thing about this thread to me is that it is a mirror in which a lot of people have bumped into themselves. That is an unfortunate necessity, to see oneself as one is. But because the picture isn't very pretty there is much risk. The point of maturing, I think, should be to derive the benefits that flow from giving up the battle to maintain a false sense of superiority in order to love what we really are. I think our enemy is egotism and our fear is being humiliated. The dream we're caught in is to have a big enough ego, to prove to everybody how superior we are so we can escape our feelings of humiliation. By doing so, in my opinion we just become bigger fools.
So the thing I don't like about this thread is that people expose themselves to humiliation by making fools of themselves which just makes them puff up even more. My posts had been gentler attempts than this to get people to relax, but when you drop a rat in a cage full of terriers you get a rip and tear session of some magnitude.
The thing is that when you go down one path and put your heart into it, it's tough to back out. There are hoards waiting to laugh and humiliate you the minute you 'take responsibility'. Can you imagine being Christ, with his intention for the world, hung up for public ridicule like a criminal. I think you can, you just may not remember.
So just as an encouragement, in case there is somebody for whom it might mean something, I think we were made to feel like fools long ago and hide that fact within us. But nobody can make anybody a real fool, they can only make you feel like it. There is all the difference in the world except we believe what we feel. But the feeling is a lie. There is nothing wrong with anybody. If you find that your only escape is to eat crow, eat it, because it is delicious.
My intention here is the hope that those who have been bruised in this thread realize that nobody with any sense is really laughing at you to humiliate.
We are all the same and at our deepest core we will find only love.