Day 2

-2-

By far the greatest repression mechanism of society has been a lack of confidence. It is in fact so effective in deterring people, that education goes to great length to foster it greatly. And it works. Every passing day, I see young men and women my age who are not confident of themselves. To them, any form of success only reminds them of their past failures. I do not know what it's like to live with such a mindset, or how one goes about in such a repressed manner. It cannot be an easy life.

What is the mechanism that makes a person say "I will" instead of "I'll try?" What makes a person say "I know" instead of "I guess?" It's confidence, is it not?

Let me define confidence. At it's heart, it is not associated with alpha males, or anything like that. Confidence at its core is a person's ability to trust himself or herself. It has nothing to do with pride; pride comes out of confidence; it is not it's precursor. Another misconception of confidence is that it means knowing that you cannot fail. It is not so. A confident man is aware that he is as capable of failure as anyone else; he simply knows that he can overcome it. Similarly, as I mentioned yesterday, it is knowing and accepting that there is a chance for error.

A confident mindset is crucial when one lives in this world; that is why everyone tries so hard to crush it. How many children are taught to be afraid of making an error? Doesn't society shun those who err out of lack of knowledge? Those who no longer have confidence have a great excuse, they were born into it, shaped that way by their society and their loving parents. However it is only an excuse. Bear with me now, I am quite ruthless; but anyone has the ability to overcome society. A truly confident mind will overcome shame. Mentality cannot be broken; one needs a visit to any particular asylum to confirm that statement is true. It is even more so with confidence. It cannot be broken by others. It is yours to wield, and yours to discard, at any moment.

My condolences for the many people my age who have long since discarded theirs.