OTR

Inferiority complex

Some people suffer from inferiority complex despite the fact that they have made good progress in life and achieved a position in their chosen field. Hence, they insist that whenever they are introduced, it should be extensive which at times looks very embarrassing even for the audience though those who are being introduced enjoy it. As human being it is natural that we all love to be appreciated and praised while being introduced at a meeting or conference but remember excess of everything is bad. Even excess of water which is so important in life can prove dangerous and one might die of drowning.

At a recent meeting sponsored by a pharmaceutical company the moderator crossed all limits of praising not only the speaker but all the members of the expert’s panel. The introduction was so exhaustive that everyone present thought that perhaps the main objective of the meeting was to introduce these healthcare professionals. When this introduction went on and on, the audience started feeling restless and some of them were heard saying that enough was enough.

After the session was over I enquired about the background of all this from one of the organizers who stated that the speaker and panelists had given them much more detailed introduction and they did try to edit it to some extent. He further stated that the panelists had agreed to attend the meeting on the condition that their full introduction will be read at the start of the meeting. This is now becoming quite a routine practice and the sponsors, organizers have to do this exercise to satisfy the ego of these people who suffer from inferiority complex. I asked the organizers, they have told us everything about the speaker and panelists except that the audience was not informed how these people were born, were it a routine normal vaginal delivery or they were born through cesarean section. Furthermore the audience should also have been informed about their accomplishments and achievements during the first six months of their infancy and childhood? The organizer said, we know it is all in a very bad taste but they are helpless as they do not wish to annoy these people.

Even otherwise we in the developing third world countries are very conscious of adding as many alphabets after our names as we can. Some people do not hesitate to write even those words which are not a degree of professional qualification at all just to impress others.