The Gospel for this week is a story about two men who go to the Temple to pray. One man compares himself to the other and thinks himself better (Luke 18:9-14). The dogma of our society is choice and competition. It grips parents considering which school to send their children to and it haunts young people wondering about whether their life is as good as it could be. Endemic within the ethos of competition is the inevitability of comparing yourself to other people. The tyranny of comparison is that it contains within it an assumption of norm, implicit judgement and inevitably some type of put down, either of you or of them. Shake yourself free of what society teaches you as the best way to behave and try welcoming someone who is richer, more talented or better looking than you. You will feel better about yourself in the process.

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