A Legend in My Own Mind

Fits me to a T

My Life in T-shirts

Some of the darkest days in my sartorial life were those that my mom was choosing my wardrobe. I could make an entire post of the joy of going to Zayre, Venture or Sears with her and picking out my New School Clothes, but my therapist doesn't have enough open sessions. (Okay I don't have a therapist, which is telling in itself, but I liked the line.)

Worse than anything we ever purchased, were the t-shirts she bought from catalogues. Remember, it was the late seventies early eighties, and when it comes to fashion, early eighties really means seventies. So T-shirts with crazy sayings were in. Probably the worst shirt she ever got me was "runners do it for the health of it." It was embarrassing. However there was one shirt that I actually liked. It said "I'm a legend in my own mind." I wore it regularly, which was different than what I did with the shirts she bought me which I did not like. Those used to spend weeks at a time under my bed. Those who knew me then would rightly say that most of my belongings spent weeks at a time under my bed. Again, fodder for another post.

As I began to research this segment, where I write snippets of my life history based on the shirts I wore, I started to think of that shirt and its implications.

While my shirt was more of a demonstration of my self-effacing humor, the phrase itself can be more of an indictment of false pride, than I at that time had intended. Often in false bravado, we believe our own press about how great we think we are. Pride comes before a fall and since autumn is less than a month away I thought this might be a good time to discuss it.

In the pivotal scene of Quiz Show where Charles Van Doren, portrayed by Ralph Fiennes, is confessing his involvement in the quiz show scandals in a congressional hearing he states:

"I've been acting a role,maybe all my life, of thinking I've, I've done more... accomplished more, produced more than I have."

When I think of that phrase "A legend in my own mind," I think of that quote. It is so easy to think of ourselves as basically good to cover up our blemishes and imperfections. The disgruntled employee says " Sure I steal money from my company by surfing the internet, when I am supposed to be doing my job, but that's a lot better than what most everybody else is doing." I don't believe man is basically good. I believe at that our core we are all sinful and self seeking. It is very easy though, to deceive myself into thinking that I have somehow merited God's favor. The truth is that everything I have has been given to me by God. My life, my health, my wife, our ability to earn money and maintain a residence, my ability to reason, my ability to type on this keyboard, even the planet I dwell on was formed by Him. God is no legend, he is real, and as the psalmist says the heavens declare his glory. If I were to have any prowess that would be considered legendary, it would be given to me by God, or only exist in my mind.

A special welcome to those visiting from the CREATIVE CARNIVAL. Be sure to read some of my more recent posts before heading back to Write Anything.

Next Time: A thought for my Pennies.