By Pete Bandel

My parents told me all the time how important it is to “be yourself,” and that if I truly were to be, then everything else would work out in my favor and life would be full of roses.

Even though they meant those words in good spirit, it still made me wonder. I had always been “myself.”

I mean, who else could I be?

That was it. What they saw was just me; there was no one else. I kept thinking what they really must have wanted was for me to change, for me to become more like them and everyone else around them.

Because of that, I thought I had to be cool, be different, be a maverick for everyone else to say, “That guy really is himself.”

Ironically, the more I tried to be different, and be fully unique and in turn be myself, the less myself I constantly became.

Albert Einstein said, “Common sense is a collection of stereotypes and prejudices acquired by age 18.” In that case, we all have a lot of common sense. And we all have a lot of stereotypes that we perceive and make for others to poke at.

I found the more I tried to seek out my personal rebellion, the more constricted everything around me would become. All I became was angst-ridden, just a boy trying to make some noise. All I made was noise pollution.

Being one’s self, for whatever that truly means, is extremely important. It is how an individual will relate to the society around him or her.

But, at the same time, it is important not to isolate one’s self in a vain attempt to try and have everyone see how truly different you can be. Culture exists as a medium for funneling good and great aspects of a society down through generations, it helps societies grow, foster and nurture constructive change. Culture helps to eradicate stereotypes as people who are being themselves and who are different are able to find commonalities amongst their peers. Stereotypes erode culture by alienating people from each other because of grossly simple observations of styles and beliefs.

I don’t know if stereotypes and prejudices can be stamped out, but creating more obviously does not help.

It is essential for people to be themselves, but to do so constructively; to help forward communities and use differences in opinions and ideals to connect, not conflict. Being one’s self is not a license to do anything we desire, nor is it a license to forget about other aspects of one’s self, which include family, community, and society as a whole.

No man or woman is an island. So, instead of being you being yourself, and I being myself and everyone doing what they feel is best for themselves, let’s try being ourselves and instead using our God-given talents make our families, community and country better.

– Pete Bandel is a junior political science major.