self-criticism

"Any time something is written against me, I not only share the sentiment but feel I could do the job far better myself. Perhaps I should advise would-be enemies to send me their grievances beforehand, with full assurance that they will receive my every aid and support. I have even secretly longed to write, under a pen name, a merciless tirade against myself."



Jorge Luis Borges, 1907

we are our own harshest and most unforgiving critics. why, even borges, the astoundingly brilliant writer and thinker admits to finding an unlikely kinship with his would-be enemies on the grounds of their shared interest in maligning the author's many flaws.

i can identify with borges, and i think you can, too. but as i sit here blogging about the author i should be annotating for my long-overdue paper, i offer this gem:

if i am going to be my own worst critic, i must -for the sake of my spiritual, physical and emotional well-being- agree to moonlight as my own cheerleader. my own forgiver. my own hero. my own supporter. if there is indeed a natural inclination to harp upon what i perceive to be my own inadequacies, i must counter this inclination with a resolute and unwavering agenda to love myself.