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

The ego often changes according to each person's stage, situation, environment and position. 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 worth, 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 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 cadres who are always exemplary, pioneers, dare to innovate strongly, dare to think, dare to do, dare to take responsibility. They are always creative, find new directions, new ways of doing things, always put 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 successful, 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 "exceptions", superiors, 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, an ordinary person will openly and receptively accept opinions different from their own, but with “bosses” they will be very uncomfortable, even “unacceptable”. It is the “ego” that is too big that imprisons them in their own arrogance and complacency.

Many people are imprisoned by their own ego, which imprisons them in their own arrogance and self-satisfaction. 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 them because they benefit 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 used to “preach”, “do this, do that,…” and were praised and highly appreciated. When the cases were clarified, we saw 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 collective leadership necessary? Because no matter how wise or 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, many people are needed. 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 harmoniously handle the “ego” and “self”. Don’t let the “ego” become “bad”, leading to “sin”!