let us not be overcome

Sometimes, it can seem like one is surrounded by people who work to make themselves look good by either singing their own praises, or disparaging others' efforts. The funny thing about this is that one can only be drowned out by such horn-tooting if one is equally as vain, and wants to be appreciated by everyone.
Er, rather, it isn't funny, and this is my Lesson of the Month. I got kind of tired of the being exposed to the same din over and over again, so today I decided: OK! Let me look small in their eyes. And no sooner did I decide that, I realised that the light could shine from behind me (not my own light), and I felt bigger (in my own heart) than I know myself to be. How odd! The larger I wanted to be, the smaller I became; and vice versa.
The usual steps were involved before this miraculous transition took place. First, I was very annoyed. Then, I distanced myself by poring over an exciting archaeology paper. So when I returned to my problems, I remembered which life story I want to write for myself. It isn't the story of tit-for-tat.
I can't have it both ways. If I want to be like that ostensibly super woman in the detergent advertisements, and have everyone always admire my clean laundry, I can't have a day off. I'd rather have the day off, and learn how to laugh at not having control of every situation. I don't know about where you live, but where I live, one has to learn how to deal with constantly shifting situations. So, as I said, I am being forced to learn what the Chinese call: being like bamboo (flexible). And to laugh at oneself first is to take that power away from other people.
My mother sent me, as a partial joke, and this has to do with our family's sense of humour about our high aesthetic standards, a little framed print of a "Teacher's Creed" (wisdom, truth, vision, love, etc); it also has a 3-D apple inside the frame, which is why it is so funny, so kitch, but what it's missing is HUMOUR. I find it really odd that Aristotle's second book (on humour) of Poetics is lost. Might that have been really important to the development of humanity?
Our view of the past is so limited because much is forgotten over time, and much goes missing. Imagine if the past were a person, would it be offended for being misunderstood? Or, here's another thought: do you think that there is a sense of humour to time?
I was born serious, so I have problems with figuring humour out. I'm partly kidding (I so love a good self-deprecatory joke), but going back to what I was saying: humour is really important in teaching. It protects one from malice, improves delivery, allows for humility and makes for a pleasant time of it. Dulce et utile. In all things, balance (oh Aristotle, how I love thy golden mean).
There is no need to be overcome. And when that moment comes, we shall leave the cave, and realise that we have been brought to a place of greater vision.

Elements: butterfly; needlework; paint brush; paper.