Don’t bother me; I’m feeling sorry for myself. It’s an all consuming task. I don’t have time for trivia, for your problems, for anything but a crisis. Feeling sorry for myself is all about me-me-me.
Self pity is seldom deserved, never useful; and after all, what do most Americans have to complain about? The majority of us have a roof over our heads and food in the cupboard. Our nation is not at war. There are no spies in our living rooms. After all, life is suffering. No one makes it much past the first hours of existence without feeling hungry and cold, alone and afraid. But, as soon as we are conscience enough to put words to our misery we want to wail, “why me?” and then continue to whine. When in the midst of the pity party my humor tries to reassert itself, a ditty arises “nobody likes me everybody hates me guess I’ll eat some worms”. Self pity is a worm like emotion. It burrows in. It wriggles in. It makes little compost heaps of indulgence. And soon, there is a place to wallow. The words go together self-pity and wallow. You wallow in self pity because it blocks all else. You are covered with it; it’s in your eyes, in your ears refusing any countering information. What has self pity ever done for you or me? Has it ever urged you to greater achievements? Endeared you towards friends and family? Inspired you to improve the lot of humankind? When we wallow it is in selfishness. Self pity asks why me? And why not her? Self pity assumes that your portion should always be good; when it’s not some terrible mistake has been made. That is because self pity is self serving. There is a human need to complain and to have the worst complaint; the one that makes others stop and reconsider their woes. It seems rather odd to want to be the most pitiable, the one with the greatest suffering, but that’s because self pity requires attention from yourself and from others. It is so tempting as my mother puts it to “sit on the pity potty”. It does seem to be a need. But, self pity is a need to be resisted, because self pity is all about self. It is selfish. It requires that your entire focus be on yourself and your past. You tend to focus not only on what inspired your current self pity, but on all wounds ever incurred, and to poke and prod until they too hurt again, to reexamine and reassert yourself, you are a pro for object of pity. “Self pity is easily the most destructive of the non-pharmaceutical narcotics, it is addictive, gives momentary pleasure and separates the victim from reality.” That summary is from John W. Gardner, president of the Carnegie Foundation, a founding chair of Common Cause, and Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. He also said “Story book happiness involves every form of pleasant thumb-twiddling; true happiness involve the full use of one’s powers and talents.” I would add to that and the service of others. The antidote of self pity is obvious, get outside of self. Some people apply this antidote in a very weak form. They hear about someone whose problems seem worse thatn their own, and cheer up. They think, “see, someone is worse off than me”, and this comparison seems to lighten the load, which is not far removed from wishing ill on others.
True compassion does not contain self interest. It steps outside that narrow cell. Compassion requires that we feel the suffering of others as if it were our own. It requires empathy, which is directed toward understanding other. It requires love which radiates outward. It requires rejoicing in others successes, which is opposite of self interest or selfishness. This is the antidote of self pity. Get up. Get out. Look outward. Do something for someone else. Helen Keller said, “self pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it we can never do anything wise in the world”.