Does your opinion matter?
When I was young and unfamiliar with the functionalities of our rotating planet, I was highly influenced and affected by things people said.
When I was small and talkative, people told me that bearing my heart out thoughtlessly was a weakness I needed to overcome. I believed them and gradually learnt to hold my silence. In my teen years, I was told that to be noticed I needed to be pretty and pretence was key to popularity. I believed this theory and tried to be someone I'm not, just to get accepted.
I hated myself for not being inherently skinny. I hated my hair for not being painstakingly straight. I refrained from smiling lest I reveal my un-shapely set of teeth.
When I stepped out of college, I was informed that pretence wouldn't help me land a job and I needed qualification. I believed this notion and worked towards getting a degree.
When I finally landed the job, it was put across to me through snide remarks that being qualified wasn't sufficient. I needed to know whom to please and whom to pussyfoot with.
This is when it hit me. Here I was remodelling myself to suit the fancy of a world that's never really satisfied.
At every step of the way I was told in no uncertain terms that I'm insufficient, incapable and inadequate. What I wanted was of little or no relevance. I am a caged animal in an overcrowded zoo with a highly opinionated audience. I have to constantly perform tricks to keep people interested in my existence. And how I perform the tricks and whether another animal performs it better is under constant evaluation.
If you are reserved, you are considered snobbish, if you are approachable, you are deemed to be naive. If you laugh too much, it is presumed that you are sly and if you refrain from speaking your mind, you are political.
The question that arises now is, is it worth the effort to adopt new shapes, forms and characters to fit into an ever changing world?
The wise thing to do here would be to look at the mirror with intensity and decide whether you are satisfied with what you see. If not, well that's the only person you need to please.
When I was small and talkative, people told me that bearing my heart out thoughtlessly was a weakness I needed to overcome. I believed them and gradually learnt to hold my silence. In my teen years, I was told that to be noticed I needed to be pretty and pretence was key to popularity. I believed this theory and tried to be someone I'm not, just to get accepted.
I hated myself for not being inherently skinny. I hated my hair for not being painstakingly straight. I refrained from smiling lest I reveal my un-shapely set of teeth.
When I stepped out of college, I was informed that pretence wouldn't help me land a job and I needed qualification. I believed this notion and worked towards getting a degree.
When I finally landed the job, it was put across to me through snide remarks that being qualified wasn't sufficient. I needed to know whom to please and whom to pussyfoot with.
This is when it hit me. Here I was remodelling myself to suit the fancy of a world that's never really satisfied.
At every step of the way I was told in no uncertain terms that I'm insufficient, incapable and inadequate. What I wanted was of little or no relevance. I am a caged animal in an overcrowded zoo with a highly opinionated audience. I have to constantly perform tricks to keep people interested in my existence. And how I perform the tricks and whether another animal performs it better is under constant evaluation.
If you are reserved, you are considered snobbish, if you are approachable, you are deemed to be naive. If you laugh too much, it is presumed that you are sly and if you refrain from speaking your mind, you are political.
The question that arises now is, is it worth the effort to adopt new shapes, forms and characters to fit into an ever changing world?
The wise thing to do here would be to look at the mirror with intensity and decide whether you are satisfied with what you see. If not, well that's the only person you need to please.
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