The 'I' goes with the 'bad' and the 'sin'

The ego often changes over time, according to circumstances, environment and position of each person. The ego is the personality, the inherent nature of each person to distinguish one person from another. However, each person can recognize and adjust it accordingly.

In society, there are people who have an inferiority complex and are humble in their interactions with others. They see themselves as limited, not as beautiful, not as flexible, not as talented as others, and they doubt their true worth. They cannot see their own value, they are easily pessimistic and vulnerable. People who are immersed in inferiority complex, dissatisfaction with themselves, and lack of joy and openness with others will greatly limit their work efficiency.

People who are immersed in self-pity and inferiority complex will greatly limit their work efficiency. Illustration: Document

Among our cadres, it is very valuable to respect those who always harmoniously combine the small ego with the large self. They are always exemplary, pioneering cadres, daring to strongly innovate, daring to think, daring to do, daring to take responsibility. They are always creative, finding new directions, new ways of doing things, always putting the interests of the collective, of the whole above the interests of their own parts or their own interests. They are determined to change, eliminate bureaucratic, authoritarian, arbitrary, "five-finger pointing", "salon, cold room" styles to excellently complete the tasks assigned by the Party and the State. When they succeed, it is the success of a collective with the strength of solidarity; if they fail, they are open to listening, correcting, overcoming and are ready to take personal responsibility before the organization and the law. They are the "servants" and "public servants" of the people, knowing how to put the common interests of the country and locality above all else, and harmoniously resolving personal and collective interests.

However, there are still people - especially when they have a certain position in the locality or unit, besides that, there are opportunists, always "yes, sir", praising, flattering, they are complacent, mistaken, self-delusional, thinking that they are good, they are everything, they look down on, even do not acknowledge the opinions of others,... They blatantly violate the principle of democratic centralism, do not maintain discipline, consider themselves "exceptional", superior, experienced. When they win, they are arrogant, conceited, thinking that they themselves did everything. When they fail, they argue, justify, find ways to blame the situation, even ridiculously blame other people, other departments.

As a person climbs the ladder of fame, the “ego” they carry on their shoulders becomes heavier. Therefore, a normal person will accept opinions that are different from their own in an open and receptive manner, but with “bosses” they will be very uncomfortable, even “unacceptable”. It is their “ego” that is so big that it imprisons them in their own arrogance and complacency.

Many people are imprisoned by their own ego, which imprisons them in their own arrogance and complacency. Illustration: Source

In practice, there are many cases of violations in all fields, from the central to local levels, directly related to violations of the principle of democratic centralism, or lack of responsibility, lax leadership, management, direction, or authoritarianism, arbitrariness, lack of democracy, proposing policies, making decisions, seeing that they are wrong but still doing so because it is beneficial for their own department or individual. There are policies and decisions that are seriously wrong, causing huge losses of State and People's assets, causing public outrage, and negatively affecting the reputation of the Party and State. That is the consequence of powerful egos that have degenerated and changed.

Among the officials who made mistakes, many were famous people, who had "lectured", "must be like this, like that,..." and were praised and highly appreciated. When the cases were clarified, we could see the "dark corners", the recklessness, disregard for the law, disregard for principles in the leadership of these people in the positions they held. Many officials with authority created "backyards", found all kinds of tricks to control and profit. They took advantage of their power to benefit themselves and their families. They used their power, putting their personal interests above the interests of the people and the collective.

President Ho Chi Minh once pointed out: “Collective leadership is democracy. Individual responsibility means centralized democracy” and he explained: “Why is it necessary to have collective leadership? Because no matter how wise and talented a person is, no matter how experienced he is, he can only see and consider one or more aspects of a problem, he cannot see and consider all aspects of a problem. Therefore, it is necessary to have many people. Many people have a lot of experience. Some people see clearly this aspect, others see clearly another aspect of the problem. By pooling the experience and consideration of many people, the problem will be clearly seen from all aspects. And only by seeing clearly from all aspects can the problem be solved thoroughly, without mistakes.”

Every human life is limited. We must constantly strive to improve ourselves, and find a balance between “ego” and “self”. Don’t let “ego” become “bad”, leading to “sin”!