Be True to Yourself

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everyone else… means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.  -e.e.cummings

I am not an avid reality show watcher, I never really have been.  Weekly watching someone else's life and all the drama that can go with the situation created is not what I consider entertainment.  Yet I will admit that I have a guilty pleasure of watching Survivor on occasion.  Although I still do not watch it on a regular basis, if there is something that catches my interest I will tune in occasionally, especially at the finale. 

 Last night I watched the finale of the most recent Survivor show.  One of the players was the nephew of a player in previous shows who truly proved what it meant to be an out and out liar and then to not have any problem with it.  Of course I am talking about Russell.  His nephew Brandon played this season.  On several occasions he stated how he wanted to try and return some goodness to his family name and the example that Russell had left in his previous 3 shows appearances.  He tried to play with honesty and an forwardness that I enjoyed.  Although I will say that there were some that did not like his manner of telling it like it is, I found it refreshing in a world where it seems that so many just tell you what they think you want to hear.

 

Most people are other people.  Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.  Oscar Wilde

He did not win of course.  It was his honesty and true compassion to help out another that did him in.  He spoke last night about how the experience changed and also strengthened him and his convictions.  He also talked about how because of this change and the manner in which he exhibited his passions on national TV inevitably alienated him from his family per their choosing.  He had no one from his family there to support him last night.  No one was there to congratulate him on a good game except his fellow players and others in the audience.  His uncle Russell was there, yet it was only to ridicule his ridiculous manner of playing the game. 

Many times in life we have opportunities to stand up for something we claim to the comfortable crowd that we believe in.  When I say comfortable crowd I mean those of like ways and beliefs.  It takes little courage to stand up in a room where so many others would say the same words as you.  Yet to walk among others who hold a different view can be a very unpleasant and often difficult experience.  I take my hat off to Brandon for standing behind what he claimed was him.  I commend him for continuing to do so even after his return home and the discomfort he received as well as the cold shoulders and lack of compassion.  It is people like him that will eventually make a difference.  Next time you are given a chance to speak your voice and say something to support the convictions that you hold deep in the corners of your heart remember… If we become so accustomed to disguising ourselves to other people  eventually we will also become disguised to ourselves. 

Never be bullied into silence, Never allow yourself to be made a victim.  Accept no one’s definition of your life;

 Define yourself.