Be yourself.
I?m sure you?ve heard this one being droned into your ear since you hit 3rd grade. ?Say no to drugs, don?t smoke, and be yourself.?
If you had any inklin of critical thought, chances are you were like me, quietly finding the whole concept ridiculous while nodding your head sweetly to your middle-aged sexually frustrated teacher.
Don?t get me wrong, drugs are horrible, smoking causes cancer, but to suggest that someone has the OPTION to be someone other than themselves is utter stupidity. The fact that it?s coming from someone who is putting on a condescending voice so the children can understand them better is pure hypocrisy. If any teacher acted like themselves, they would?ve been fired years ago.
And there?s the double standard that public schools set, isn?t it? It tells you to be honest and then punish those who are. If you were angry because little suzy took your crayons and yelled at her, you were sent to the corner. ?No, little Billy, when you get angry you?re supposed to repress it and ask for it back nicely.?
The underlining idea behind the ?be yourself? advice is simple, don?t be afraid to drop your act for social acceptance. But the idea behind it is extremely flawed, isn?t it? As adults, we live our lives in various phases. We don?t speak the same way to our boss as we do our buddies at the bar. We don?t act the same in front of our parents as we do in front of our kids. We don?t even dress the same way in front of priest as we do at a club.
If we were always ?ourselves?, we?d be outcasted by our society. And that is something all human beings desperately fear.
Just ask any 3rd grader.
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