under the guise of keeping you from thinking too much of yourself. The real reason they are doing it is because they see you as a cut above them and they are envious of you. They know right well what harm they are doing to you and why.
When you express a different opinion than they, or when they perceive you may be doing something better than they can or that they never thought of doing, or when you tell them something they didn’t already know, they brand you as arrogant.
Of course, if you already have low self esteem from being treated that way when you were young, then this present assailing will, if you let it, destroy your self-esteem all the more. That is one of the belittler’s main purposes.
“They will dare, and indeed try to tantalize you into openly accusing them of the various things they are trying to do to you. If you were to do so you would be labeled with words according to the education and position in life of the respective belittlers-words such as ‘nuts’, ‘mad’, ‘crazy’, ‘paranoid.’ That being so, we generally have to bear our burden in silence and without recourse.
“A favorite weapon at the local church when the minister makes a suggestion, is for the belittlers present to each take a very different stand from each other and from the minister and start a heated discussion about it. They do this to shatter the proposal to bits, then brush it aside and go on with something of their own devising and usually more trivial or routine. This way the minister cannot accomplish anything.
“But I will hold off telling you more of the tactics and mind-games of the church till next week, when we get into that gruesome phase of the story. Tonight I will tell you the first phase of the story: how belittlers in the Immigration Department of Terraprima quite openly and brazenly, no mind-games used for cover up, abused my friends as they sought to go through the immigration process after being told they could do so in a quite satisfactory manner. Later also, I will tell of belittlers at work in business and industry in Terraprima, and show what a detrimental effect they have on the same.
“You will no doubt be surprised that belittlers can do what they do and get away with it, often unnoticed. One of the foremost reasons is that North Americans generally are not very cognizant of the various ways people are motivated to do what they do. They may say of an action or attitude, it is right or wrong, good or bad. However, to discern whether it is rightly or wrongly motivated; whether, for example, it was done with good reasoning and good intentions, or done out of a wayward emotion such as envy, is generally out of the common orbit of most people.
“I think you will understand all the foregoing more fully as I tell the story.”
Chapter Two
Collin began his presentation on the Lawtons in Terraprima. “My fine, distinctive friends, Durwin Lawton and Canda his wife of more than thirty years were fine people too; both exceptional people in many ways even after years of belittling. To protect their privacy and personal interests, the names I am using for them, Durwin and Canda Lawton, are fictitious. However, they are very real people, and the story I am about to tell of their experiences in Terraprima (another fictitious name as you already know) is not fictitious but true and factual. They were both in their early fifties when this story began more than a decade ago. As I tell the story, I will emphasize the pride and envy motivation of the belittlers-why they do what they do.
“The several states that make up the area I call Terraprima are, as you will see, largely under the influence and dominance of belittlers. Durwin went to Terraprima as a minister of the church, and Canda his wife to work at various levels of office work in industry and commerce. Each of them found both occupations to be over laden with belittlers. In time I will tell you of their experiences in each of these fields of work. For now I will tell you of their experiences together with the government office of immigration through which process they had to go in order to take up permanent residency.
“As I said, Durwin was a minister, but it was not only in the church the Lawtons had trouble with wayward people. Quite near the beginning of their story you will see that an area of government civil service was practically overrun by belittlers.
“Altogether, you will be able to see the terrible damage that belittlers, both in high places and low, do to their country. They actually cripple, and in some cases eliminate the vast contribution that potentially exceptional people could make to it.
“So let me begin,” said Collin, “by telling you of the grotesque experiences Durwin and Canda Lawton had with one unit of the Immigration Department located in Terraprima.
“Before they had decided to move to the area, they had heard stories of weird behavior of members of this government department. They were to soon find out that it was even worse than they had heard. The ignorance and outright open abuse with which they were treated was unfit for any human beings in a country of the quality Terraprima is purported to be. Having heard of this strange behavior, the Lawtons took every precaution to avoid problems with them. However, their fine personal makeup was such that trouble was unavoidable. Fine people get picked on aplenty.
“The Lawtons, while still living in Secundaterra, were on another of their frequent visits to one of the states of Terraprima when they learned that it would be possible for Durwin to be appointed to a church somewhere in the area. They went immediately to the Immigration Office in the state they were visiting and made known their desire to move to Terraprima where Durwin would be appointed minister of a church. They were treated in a mannerly fashion in this office and given the necessary papers and instructions. Within a few days, while still visiting in the state, the Lawtons got all the papers in order, each had a medical, and then returned to the immigration office with everything ready.
“After examining all the papers, the immigration officer responded: ‘All your papers and medical records are in good order except that you still give a Secundaterra address as your place of residence.’
“‘Yes,’ replied Durwin, ‘we haven’t moved to Terraprima yet, we are just visiting now.’
“‘Well,’ she said, ‘you have to move down first and then apply. You can do that as a minister of the church.’
“Durwin and Canda and their Terraprima friends who were with them were delighted to hear that, but wanted to make sure the officer was right. They questioned her. ‘Are you sure we can actually move to Terraprima and then take care of immigration matters after our move?’
“‘Yes,’ she replied. Then added assuredly, ‘I am certain of that, but if it will make you feel better I will consult my supervisor on it. I’ll be back in a minute or two.’ She took all the papers and disappeared through a door behind her. Shortly she returned. ‘Yes, my supervisor agrees that it is quite in order for you to come into this country as a clergyperson and submit these papers immediately after you have taken up residence here.’
“The Lawtons and their friends were overjoyed. The way was open for Canda and Durwin to fulfill a long-held desire and move to the land of opportunity for all.”
Collin interjected, “You will see in time just what opportunity there was, or rather was not in this land, for fine people like the Lawtons.”
He then continued with the story. “Upon returning to Secundaterra the Lawtons made plans to move. Durwin resigned from his church there, and also turned down a good offer for a move to another congregation in Secundaterra. Soon he was notified as to the name and location of his church-to-be in Terraprima. The location, however, could possibly pose one problem - maybe. It was in a state other than the one in which he had contacted the Immigration Office. They may now have to apply to a different Immigration Office - the office in the state to which
