It was a busy afternoon on the Galle Road in Moratuwa and I stopped my vehicle at a pedestrian crossing to allow a few women and children cross the road.  The vehicle on the left lane also stopped and the people were now more than halfway across when a Matara bound Leyland bus squeezed through the left and overtook both vehicles along the curb, barely missing the people crossing the road.   The bus then cut across to the right lane and nearly missed another bunch of people about to cross at another pedestrian crossing and sped away.  The above scenario is a common site on our roads, but no one takes any action, so the unsociable behaviour from the bus …

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Our self esteem is central to our survival.  Yet, we do not value its importance as we face life’s challenges.  Self esteem, whether our own or others’, is strengthened or takes a beating, through the way people communicate with each other.  This communication is based on our power in relation to others.  So, the more hierarchical and controlling a system is, power is concentrated with a few people, chances are esteem of the people below is undermined.    

What is good for people is also good for nations.   So, nation’s success also depends very much on its population’s collective self esteem, which is also called social esteem.

If we define esteem as the confidence in our right to be happy, feeling …

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