On “Being Yourself”

I know I’ve harped on this before, but I don’t feel as if I expressed myself clearly enough. Since it’s my site I can ramble all I want. Hey, hit that back button if you don’t wanna hear it.

Once again, on ESPN awhile back I heard an announcer say about a player, “He plays better when he’s being  himself. He’s gotta be who he is!”

And once again I muttered to myself, “And you’re a moron.”

Then we have the episode with Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant throwing a hissy-fit on the Cowboys sideline because he wasn’t getting thrown to enough. He ran around screaming at his teammates, basically acting like a spoiled child.

His excuse? He was showing “passion” because he “cares so much.”

Good God, does he think we’re dumb? And the sad part is some analysts buy this crock of bullshit.

Here’s the thing. I’m all for expressing yourself, being true to who you are, all that stuff. However, shouldn’t we be trying to change, you know, for the better, instead of acting like a clown and disguising it as “passion” or “being true to yourself“?

If being “yourself” is acting like a fool, taunting your opponent, and disrespecting your coach, doesn’t that sort of make you a jackass?

Hey bud, I hate to break it to you but apparently your “true self” is an idiot. Perhaps you should try to make your “true self” a little better.

If everything I ever felt or thought came flying out of my mouth over my lifetime I’d have never held any job, let alone in education.

Jeebus.

But I swear I hear it all the time: “Hey, he’s just being who he is!”

What the hell?

“Hey, that’s who I am. That’s me. I can’t pretend to be something I’m not.” I rank this line of thinking right up there with, “I’m just keeping it real, man. I’m just being me.”

Well, I have a question for people who say this: What if who you are is a monumental jackass?

Everyone feels like saying or doing inappropriate things from time-to-time, but that doesn’t mean we follow up on it. For God’s sake, if I let everything that crossed my mind come flying out of my mouth I wouldn’t have a friend in the world and would have never held a job for more than a few hours.

Isn’t it more honorable to sometimes simply hold it in and try to be a better person?

We all feel like telling someone off or pointing the finger at somebody after we’ve bested them, especially if they’d treated us poorly somewhere along the way. But part of being a good person is not saying what you’re thinking, not doing what you feel like doing. Don’t we lower ourselves to their level when we act exactly the same way they do? How does that make us better?

In addition, I’ve been with women who are extremely proud of being a bitch and will tell you so. “Hey, I’m a bitch. I’m proud of it.” My only response to that is, “Why?”

I’m not sure how this attitude developed, but it’s a fairly recent one. People my age could never imagine their mother saying, “Yep. I’m proud to be a bitch” or their father saying, “Hey, I’ll tell you exactly how I feel. Gotta be who I am and who I am is a prick.”

Maybe, just maybe, wouldn’t it sometimes be better to stop yourself, hold it in, keep your mouth shut, and move on?

So please. Don’t wear the fact that you’re outspoken and do stupid things as a badge of honor. Honesty is a good thing. That said, it has its limits. Like I said, sometimes it’s better to not be yourself, to actually pretend to be somebody else.

Somebody better.