Low Self Esteem Essay

Low Self-esteem Racism in America produced low self-esteem in many black people. Racism devaluated black people’s image of self. Racism made blacks feel inferior as a people, inadequate which produced self-doubt and feelings of unworthiness. One way in which many black men have learned to cope with racism is by developing a since of worth according to the scriptures (Mk. 12:31; Rom 12:3; Eph. 5:1-2). The biblical view of self-esteem is directly related to one possessing humility. In Craig W. Ellison’s book, “Your Better Self: Christianity, Psychology and Self Image” he says, “True humility, not pride, is the biblical counterpart of positive self-esteem. Humility is about loving yourself, not self-hatred, and it owes its affirmation to God’s
In my community, I have observed that black males think too highly of themselves or too low of themselves and few think soberly. Self-esteem should not be measured solely by what others think of you nor by the things you possess. However, many black males tend to measure their worth by these things in spite of how far we have come as a people. As stated earlier, I am the mother of two boys and my eldest son recently passed away. He suffered with low self-esteem for many years. In spite of all my efforts to encourage him and affirm his worth and value, he continued to struggle with his identity. Many factors contributed to his low self-image however, he wrestled with what I call a, “dual image reality”—in the home among family and close friends he felt loved and worthy, then in the community, he felt unworthy. I could say more about the effects of low self-esteem on black males however, length restraints of this paper constrains me and that is good because I could go on and on. Accordingly, I have shared enough to emphasis the necessity of finding a balance as it relates to self-esteem particularly in black