All About Me

 

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33

For the last few weeks I've been revisiting some familiar songs. They are songs from a movie series my grandchildren loved. Now one of my students is allowed to watch videos of the songs as a reward. Listening to them I was struck by two thoughts, all three movies follow the same exact formula. Each one contains the anthem, the breakup song, the song of angst sung by the male lead, and so on and so forth. One set of songs stood out to me and I realized that it is a part of the problem in today's society.

One female character is convinced that she is someone special. She pouts, she poses, she manipulates and she schemes, all to get her own way. Her innate selfishness and exaggerated self-image is demonstrated in each movie by a song. In the first one, she's going to the top of the heap, no one will get in her way. In the second one, she announces that her life should be perfect, fantastic, nothing but the best, better than the best. In the third one, she freely admits she wants it all, all. Why? Simple, it's all about her, no one else matters.

We laugh at the songs as we listen to them and watch the histrionics that go along with the music. Is it funny? Maybe not.

When I taught Pre-K we always did a project at the beginning of the year called, All About Me. It's a perfectly innocent and acceptable way for the children to get to know each other, for the teacher to get to know each student. The project isn't the problem; it's the title, “All About Me.” Right there, we start our babies on the road to seeing themselves as centers of the universe which of course, they are not.

Each one of us will take that to a different level. I, thank God, have never been at the level of our fictional friend who thinks her life is the only one that really counts but I've known her real life counterparts. They used to be anomalies but now that behavior, that belief is becoming more rampant. What happens to a world where each individual is interested only in their own life, their best outcome? Look around, read the news. We're beginning to see what happens in a “me first, last and only” society.

We need to remember and to remind the children in our lives that it is God first and foremost, then everything else falls into place. Sometimes it goes our way and sometimes it does not but as long as we are in His will, all is well. If it is All About God, it's a much better and more fulfilling life.