We are often judged on what we do for a living, and for some reason in this world status is measured on this basis. I remember as a girl growing up there used to be a programme on TV called The Frost Report, and in this programme there was a segment where three men would stand in a row, often tallest down to shortest — It was John Cleese, Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett — and the script would go something like this:

 

 

This would be John Cleese of course, looking at Ronnie Barker, to which Ronnie Barker would say:

 

I look up to him because… but I look down on him because …  referring to Ronnie Corbett.

 

They would be dressed in what was considered to be appropriate to the script so for example, John Cleese would be dressed in a suit with a bowler hat which implied some sort of professional job, Ronnie Barker would be dressed in a trousers and a shirt with a jacket and trilby implying an office job, and Ronnie Corbett would be dressed in an overcoat and flat cap — implying that he worked in a manual job.

 

This reflected society at the time, where status was measured according to the job you did, or what your parents did, and often this would be reflected in how people were treated. 

 

I do think this still happens and I believe that this is a contributory factor towards mental health, particularly with young people, but actually for all of us. We feel under a lot of pressure to achieve, often believing that if we don’t get grade A*s in exams, or we don’t go to University, or we don’t work in the corporate world, that we are failing in some way and that we will be judged on this basis. We often feel guilty because we feel we aren’t contributing if we can’t get a job, or we feel guilty for not being happy all the time with our work, or we feel we are letting people down if we don’t do what we feel we should be doing. We feel we are under constant scrutiny and judgement and not worthy if we aren’t meeting all the measured criteria that come from others.

 

This makes me incredibly sad, as I consider what is more important in our world. For example, how we behave, how we treat others, are we kind and compassionate, do we share, are we polite and considerate of others, do we show respect, are we honest and act with integrity? These are the things that make us human beings, not necessarily what we do, but how we are being. 

 

So my quote for the week is: