Moreover, although Collin was older by years than the other members of the support group in which he is participating here at the university, he had this in common with them, that even now in his aging, as in his youth and young manhood, he stood out among others. He had an air of distinction about him, a clean cut and assuring appearance. Furthermore, his appearance was a reflection of the high quality character, integrity, and wisdom oriented intelligence within. He was the kind of person that good people looked to and smiled at with respect and affection and trust. But not nearly all of the people of this world are good.
Among the several people who had shown negative symptoms towards Collin in the foyer that evening were those who actively work against, and block the way of people like Collin and the other members of the support group as they pursue life in the work-a-day world. Fine, smart, clean-cut distinctive looking, well charactered people are the prey and game of these wayward ones. Obviously there are other fine characteristics besides appearance, that bring out the hostility of these assailants, but appearance is the one that first stirs their hatred. O vanity of vanities, mused Collin some more.
As Collin now sat on a bench, he reflected back over his last semester interaction with the support group of fine, i.e. clean cut, healthy and wholesome looking, well charactered, distinctive looking people of integrity and often high intelligence; not perfect by any means, but down to earth nice people. It consisted of five men and two women, plus a semi-retired psychiatrist who was overseer of the project that Owen Winslow had uniquely brought together with the sanction of the Student Guidance Department.
Collin and Owen first met in a psychology classroom at the beginning of the previous semester. Collin was at that time invited by Owen to participate in the support group he had formed. The group members were all younger, in their twenties and thirties, and all struggling with a common problem. Collin could help the younger members, Owen had determined, and rightly so, because Collin was much older than the others and had already been through much of the mill of life. By the grace of God he had survived it intact-something that many of his kind are not fortunate enough to accomplish. His longer experience in understanding and coping with the problem would be helpful. Dr. Eldren was present to keep the group under professional oversight.
The support group met each Wednesday evening, 7:00 p.m. in Room 405 of the Arts building, a room set aside by Quilibet University for seminars, group meetings and occasional gatherings.
Throughout last semester’s meetings, each member of the support group told significant portions of his or her life’s story. There were instances of sibling rivalry gone awry-without proper discipline, and even supported by biased parents. But the group members were able to establish that this was not their main problem. Experiences with biased teachers in elementary and high school were also related. And although these experiences had a profound effect in some cases, their damages were still not the most formidable to overcome.
The group was able to establish that their main and most difficult problems come not from childhood, as psychology usually zeros in on, but from the society in which they later as adults tried to establish themselves. Collin tagged it as their bridgehead in life.
For some this bridgehead took place in their late teens or early twenties. For others it was in their thirties, or even later if they attempted to establish further bridgeheads as they changed their occupations. The problems encountered with a particular type of difficult people became the focus of the support group, and much light was shed upon it by the almost life-long experiences of Collin Seldon.
This particular type of wayward and difficult people are the proud and envious ones. A dictionary gives two meanings for pride:
1. An undue sense of one’s own superiority; arrogance; conceit.
2. A proper sense of personal dignity and worth. (Standard Desk Dictionary, P.524. Funk and Wagnalls Publishing Co., Inc.,1969).
The type of proud ones who give trouble to fine people are more akin to the type of those described in the first dictionary meaning, but not exactly. Rather, they are people of a wayward, undisciplined, sometimes empty pride; pride that is kept intact no matter what or how; pride that is protected and defended under all circumstances, whether warranted or not and often by untruths and/or foul means. People of such undisciplined pride, and the envy that almost certainly ensues from it, are trouble makers for fine, distinctive people.
Envy is described by the biblical scholar, William Barclay, as “the most warped and twisted of human emotions.” (The Rev. William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible, The Letter to the Romans, P.28. The Saint Andrew Press, Edinburgh, 1966). Again Barclay writes, “Envy is literally the evil eye that looks on the success and happiness of another in such a way that it would cast an evil spell upon it if it could.” (The Rev. William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible, The Gospel of Mark. P.178. The Saint Andrew Press. Edinburgh, 1966.)
The undisciplined pride and the envy, and prejudiced hatred and hostility that in turn ensues from it, are the main characteristics of those who make trouble for fine people. It works this way: The trouble makers are ruled by undisciplined pride, and are smug as they are. When a fine person comes along, their undisciplined pride and smugness is disturbed into envy. They are like a balloon, all puffed up. When a fine, high caliber person comes along and just by his presence unintentionally pricks the balloon, they are deflated, and more often than not burst into hostility.
Actually there is one of two things they could do about their predicament if they understood it. First, they could rise up to do better for themselves, learning what they can from others, including fine people, on their way, which most of them don’t do. Or, secondly, they could decide to remain as they are, putting beneath them the fine person whom they see as doing them wrong by upsetting them. Most of them follow this devious course of behavior. Hence their belittling comes into action.
At a previous support group meeting, Collin tagged those of the latter category simply as belittlers. Also, in the previous semester, the fine people of the support group and others like them in society, for matters of convenience in discussion, were referred to as fine people, or sometimes people like us.
The term belittlers seems such a harmless little word. But as it was explored by the group it can at times be a monster. It robs society of some of its most promising and potentially exceptional people. In many geographical areas it also establishes these often crude and inferior people, these belittlers, as the predominant influence in their society, thereby keeping it on an inferior level. The group members came to the consensus that dealing with such troublesome belittlers as these has been their most difficult experiences in life.
These experiences took Dr. Eldren outside the sphere of his professional training as a psychiatrist, to a world he had formally learned little or nothing of. But being the good natured and mature kind of person he was, he kept an open mind on it continually. When the group members saw that he wasn’t going to label them with abnormal psychological terms, they felt free to open up and tell of their experiences objectively. Some of these experiences were shocking to say the least, and therefore took a great deal of mental and emotional stamina on the part of the group members to recall the painful experiences of their lives.
Collin had been able to analyze the events for them objectively in the light of his own experiences and observations over several decades of his adult life. These younger students would not now have to re-invent the wheel, as the cliché so accurately puts it, in order to find their way through the treacherous paths in life that would surely come their way because of the fine people they are. Their increased knowledge and understanding of circumstances peculiar to their lives would enable them to better cope.
As he sat on the bench, Collin reflected back over the experiences of the support group members. Being much older than they he was therefore able, as he heard their stories and told his own, to shed much light on the problems they had all experienced