Be Yourself

What does that mean?  How can you be anyone else?  Who else would you be?  But being yourself is so much more than just living your life.  It means not succumbing to peer pressure--all kinds, not just from your friends.  What about the media?  Celebrities?  News?  All of these can influence how we live, how our attitude is, what we look like.

I have problems with this, just like anyone else does.  But if I like my worn-out converse even though  people say they look terrible, I still wear them.  If I like a vintage skirt even though it's out of style, I'll still wear it.

But doing what you want to do is still hard.  What if you want to embrace a career of acting instead of  your parents wishes for you to become an English teacher?  What if you want to be a writer, a traveler, a messenger of words instead of respectable lawyer?

I recently watched the movie Billy Elliot, and in it Billy lets Mrs. Wilkinson (the dance teacher) read a letter that is very special to him.  The letter is from his dead mum, and in it she tells Billy how proud she was to have known him, for however short a while--and how she will have missed his growing up, and missed telling him off.  She signs it with "Always be yourself.  I love you forever, -Mam."

And this scene just touched me so much, because even as Mrs. Wilkinson is reading aloud, Billy is reciting the words as well--and you know he's memorized the whole letter by heart.  And it is so sweet and such a touching scene with beautiful acting that it almost makes me cry.

Being yourself means dancing like no one is watching.  Singing like no one can hear.  Acting like nobody cares.  Writing a book you'd like to read.

So go on.  Dare.  Dream.  Believe.  And make it happen.

Be yourself.

-Editor