This I Believe

Who Is the Real Me?

In the modern day world, people have a tendency to be who people want them to be. Some are more noticeable then others. For example, the way politicians act. Almost everyone knows that senators, presidents, and even school board members will promise everything to the world to get elected and sometimes it works. But with that, they are not being true to themselves. People will pretend to be someone they are not to get what they want or to grab the attention of the person or persons they desire to impress. Everyone should be who they are, act how they want to act, and say what they want to say because if they do not they are not being true to themselves. Jobs and family can cause people to act out of their character to please the person or persons who will benefit them the most.

In many career fields, it is important to impress the client. For example, it is important for a lawyer to impress the defendant or the plaintiff and to tell their story in a way to motivate the jury to vote their way. I believe that this is out acting out of character because the lawyer is going to make up lies to win the case. In order to pass the lies for the truth, the lawyer will have to believe it too. No matter what field of work a person is n there is always a situation that will cause someone to step out of their character to please someone else. The work place is not the only place where people can find others behaving falsely.

At home with the family, many believe that is where someone can be their true self without being judged. But is that true? I know several families that the children are behave a certain way when different family members are around. For instance, everyone has that one aunt or uncle that does not have any children but will always criticize the way they are raised, or the children will have to act differently around one side of the family than the other. Maybe the mother’s side is very conservative and the children are to be seen and not heard, and the father’s side is very loud and exciting and the children can run around with all the other children while the parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents just admire how they have grown. With these different situations it is teaching the children to pretend to be someone they are not. This can effect how the child is brought up. He or she could go through life being someone that has to please everyone, and if they cannot, they lose control and break down.

Family, friends, bosses, and even professors can intimidate people to the extent that a person cannot act them self. But by not acting yourself, people cannot learn and grow from their mistakes. Children will grow up thinking that they have to impress someone to get their way to be able to make it through life, but they act in a way that is true to themselves but also appropriate they will be able to make it through life without as much stress.