Sunday 22 July 2012

Be yourself, Don’t Be a Copy


So a story is told of a Black Raven who while perched up in a tree saw a swan wadding the waters. The Raven thought to himself that the swan was really beautiful because of his whiteness. Mr Raven then decided to become as white as the swan and so occupied himself with becoming white. Pretty soon an idea struck him and he thought of going to stay in the water washing and wadding in the water till he was white just like the swan.
Mr Raven descended into the waters and started wadding the waters too with the swan. He was so made up on being white that he forgot all other duties and responsibilities that he had. However as days went by dear friend Raven did not turn white, his feathers remained as Black as charcoal and he died because he was not eating while busy preoccupied with being white like the swan.
The moral of the story is that no matter how hard you try to change yourself to be someone or something else there are some things you cannot change about yourself because that’s who you are.
All of us are originals and designer made. We were not made be a copy of someone else’s life. Have you ever wondered why God made us so different? He made each one of us unique in his own way for a particular reason. The whole world has over 7billion people now but never has you ever; and never shall you see two people with an identical fingerprint or DNA.
Instead of all of us trying to be similar we should celebrate our diversity. Have you ever looked at the rainbow’s beauty? If it was just a bow of one colour would the rainbow be still as beautiful? I don’t think so! The colours complement each other to make it one of the best natural spectacles that humans marvel at.
It’s the same with people especially youths. Most youths want to look like someone else. Some even wish to change their race and be some exotic race which they think is better than them. They suffer an identity crisis because they want to be everyone and everything except themselves. Lack of identity is the reason why many young people never succeed at anything in their life.
Why should you try so desperately to be someone else instead of just being yourself? The truth is there is no greatness you can ever achieve being someone else but yourself. This is impossible because you are playing in unfamiliar territory. The moment you start being yourself that’s when you will begin to enjoy life truly and you will see success follow you.
There is a reason why you were born today in this generation. Pastor Chris in His message fulfilling your purpose says, “You are born in this generation for a reason. You were born because you were relevant to this generation. To make a change and leave it better.”
So the truth is if you do not become yourself you are not doing a disservice to yourself only but to the rest of humankind because they will never realise the true reason why you were born.
Quit trying to be someone else, just be yourself. Trying to be someone you are not is very dangerous to yourself psychologically and physically. Have you ever seen women and girls who have probably many colour patches on their skin because they used harmful skin lightening products to be some complexion that they were not. Such people end up with permanent reminders of their flopped bid to be someone they are not.
For youths the danger in trying to be who you are not is that you damage your self-esteem. Confidence comes in affirming yourself and your uniqueness. Keep trying to be who you are not and you will be frustrated when you fail to succeed in that impossible task. You also will feel that you are a failure and you can’t amount to something. But in actual fact you are not a failure you had just attempted an unrealistic task.
There is plenty of room for all of us on this earth. Our challenge is not to all be the same but to succeed and shine in our own unique ways. Instead of wasting time trying to be someone else, spend that time trying to be a better you and see how amazed you will be with yourself.
Remember the quote from the movie Coach Carter, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure…..it’s not just in some of us but in all of us”
Go on show the world what you are made of

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