It's all about me... I mean you!

I saw an article on MSN a couple days ago about the latest generation being totally narcissistic, (self absorbed). It talked about how now we give our children "Princess parties", tell them they are "doing Great", their teachers try to make sure everyone "Feels good about Themselves". They interviewed a young lady who was in her twenties and her comment was something like, "Yea, I love myself. What's wrong with that?"

Well, I agree with her.

Nothing is wrong with that IF;

If that love of self is tempered with a LARGE PORTION of serving others.

We should tell our daughters they are princesses. We should tell our sons they can be the best ball player in the world if they want. We should encourage them, tell them we love them unconditionally, support them in every worthy endeavor they undertake, sacrifice some of our needs for them. We should help them to love themselves. These are all healthy things!

BUT,

They also need to be taught service to others. If we fail to teach them respect for others feeling, property, needs and beliefs, we end up with a society filled with spoiled rotten primadonnas, (Paris Hilton and Terrel Owens come to mind, along with most of Hollywood's actors and actresses).

If children are taught to serve others, they learn to be humble yet confident. They learn to love others and themselves. They learn that we feel the best about ourselves when we have been able to do something for someone else. They learn that it really isn't "All about me". It's all about me helping others.

There are opportunities for service everywhere; in the home, at school, at work, at your church. Especially now, with a lot of people having more needs than a couple years ago, you can find more opportunities to serve than you have time in the day. Every family member should have responsibilities at home, no matter how young or old. Sometimes it can be hard to get others, especially those teens, to look outside of themselves and see that service can be very satisfying and gratifying. One way is to do the service as a group; family, class, friends group, church group, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts.

If we teach service, we will love ourselves, but for all the right reasons and in the right way. Love yourself doing service for others and the world will be a better place because of YOU!