A Dangerous Misplacement

In a strange mix of nostalgia and “rediscovering one’s childhood,” there has been a dramatic recurrence of classic Disney movies in my life here at college. Even if I am not available to watch every installment, the sheer number of viewings has caught my attention. Whenever I think of the “Disney Message,” I usually condense it down to the idea that “You ought to believe in yourself.”

While this message is certainly not exclusive to Disney movies, it is typified by them. The statement itself has become so broad as to be a bit difficult to pin down. To believe in yourself is to look internally to find the strength, truth, and will to accomplish your goals. I can’t help but disagree.

I will readily admit that we all should have some “stick-to-it” attitude in our life. There is a degree of confidence required to a meaningful life. When confronted with adversity, it is hard to respect the roll over and play dead approach. But the question here is not the question of confidence itself, but the question of into what one places confidence. The strongest movements, individuals, and peoples all believed in something bigger than their “self.” Having confidence in the truth is one such example. To have confidence in the truth is not the same as believing in your self. It is easier to cling to something strong than to pull yourself up with your own bootstraps. I’d go so far as to say one is possible and the other isn’t.

G.K. Chesterton put it very clearly. He related it in terms of modesty, saying:

“But what we suffer from to-day is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction; where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed. Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert – himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt – the Divine Reason…

At any street corner we may meet a man who utters the frantic and blasphemous statement that he may be wrong. Every day one comes across somebody who says that of course his view may not be the right one. Of course his view must be the right one, or it is not his view. We are on the road to producing a race of men too mentally modest to believe in the multiplication table…”

So, the conclusion is that, however much we may enjoy singing along to Disney movies, we should not believe them. Instead of believing in ourselves, we should believe in something bigger and more meaningful. This looking out, rather than in, is a truer source of strength and even happiness than a fistful of fairytale endings. In a question of confidence and perspective, we should seek for the truth in order to be confident in it … not in our self.

“Matt Pitchford is a 20-year-old sophomore majoring in Rhetoric and Media Studies at Willamette University in Salem, OR. He has a passion for communication, engaging contemporary culture, and the occasional round of ping-pong. You can read more over at his blog, The Troika Press.”