Don't Cross the Line

Today I have come to the conclusion that all the "be true to yourself" is a bunch of crap.

Let me explain: I think its great! And I think that everyone should be true to their self! Everyone tells us to be whoever we want to be, even if it means going against the social norms. The world pushes individuality (at least America does) and telling us to forget what everyone else thinks. But its really not true! What the world is really saying is "Be true to yourself, but don't cross the line."

We still have to conform to be what everyone else wants us to be. When we go in for a job interview, are we completely ourselves? No we aren't! We become what the potential employer wants us to be. Everyone is acting like they are someone else on a daily basis to be what everyone else wants us to be. Raise your hand (figuratively) if you have several personalities. I'm not talking about being crazy, but how many of you are one person at work, a different person at home, still another person when you're out with your friends and then a person completely different from the others when you are walking around by yourself.

Even though we are being bombarded by the message to be true to ourselves, we really aren't. We care to much about appearances and what other people will think of us to really be true to our self.

I started thinking about this when I had to read "The Death of a Salesman" for English this week. The main character, Willy Lowman, spends his entire life doing something he's not really good at because he's chasing the American Dream, the almighty dollar, the belief if you are popular and well liked you can do anything. He eventually kills himself so his family can collect the insurance and they would be better off. His oldest son finally comes to the conclusion that their family should not have been in the city with his father being a salesman, they should have moved in the country where they could do work with their hands, because that is what is in their blood and what they are good at. His youngest son though, follows his misguided father's idea that everyone can still get to the top. That is the American Dream. How wrong this is! By conforming to what the world wants of us, by following what everyone else is doing, we are essentially giving up who we really are!

The only person I can think of right now who makes an excellent example of someone who really is true to herself and doesn't care what anyone else thinks of her is Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter series. I admire this girl because of it. From her giant hats of enchanted animals that she wears for the quidditch games, to her radish earrings, her clothes, her belief in all the things that she can't see. She's not crazy, in fact she's perfectly sane. She knows she doesn't really have friends but she doesn't care, it doesn't deter her. She is the person who will speak up and say what everyone is thinking, even if no one will say it. Luna has the rare personality makeup of that she doesn't care what anyone else thinks about her, she doesn't make herself what everyone else wants. She is who she is, she is not ashamed of it, and even if everyone is laughing at her, she won't change.

Yeah, I'm in a weird mood today. We're stuck, aren't we? Everyone wants to be true to themselves, but only a handful of people actually are. The rest of us are always acting.

So here's a trick, be true to yourself and for a few days be true to ONLY yourself. Don't put on an act, don't change when you are around different people. I'm sure some people reading this don't really think about the fact they have different acts around different people. But watch yourself for a little while, I'm sure you'll see that you do have different ways of acting.

Okay, I'm going to go be true to myself in the way of eatting a banana split, so until next time!!