Being who you are..!

Friday, November 26, 2010 - Quite often I have people who have returned from the United States or England, with an accent. Many had gone for just a few weeks, they did not pick up much else, but an accent they did. Yesterday I spent the evening in the company of someone who’d spent many years, in fact nearly a decade in the US, doing his studies, and finally completing his Ph.d over there. “How is it you never picked up an American accent?” I asked. “Because I consciously made it a point not to,” he said. “But didn’t they find it difficult to understand you?” “Not at all!” he said. “In fact they respected me more, for being what I am!” I liked that phrase, “Being what I am!”

Many years ago, President Coolidge once entertained some people from Vermont in the White House. These people were concerned that they display proper table manners to win the President’s respect, so they observed Coolidge very carefully and decided to follow his actions in detail. The meal passed smoothly with his guests eating their meal in the same way the President was eating his.

Then coffee was brought in, and the President poured his into a saucer. The guests did like wise. Coolidge added sugar and cream, and all the visitors did the same, with now a rather surprised president looking curiously at them. Coolidge then leaned over and gave his coffee to the cat. That’s what happens when we imitate others, we make fools of ourselves! We need to be who we are.

To be who we are, we need to be confident in striking out on our own and not bothering what people think about us. I remember this youngster who was learning driving. The instructor who was teaching him, would watch as the boy took the car down the road on first gear, then after sometime the instructor would shout, ‘second’ and the boy would shift into second gear, and continue driving in ‘second’ till the instructor again shouted, ‘third’ and then, ‘fourth’.

Finally when the boy went for the driving test, I watched him again, with the police official sitting next to him, and nobody shouting any instructions; he drove the car up and down on first gear, and failed. If we keep waiting for instructions and always imitating, this is what could happen to us. So learn to be who you are, develop confidence in being who you are, and finally people will respect you for just who you are..!

—Email: bobsbanter@gmail.com