2015-03-27Staff Report 2 WHEN I ask who you are I am sure the first answer that pops into your mind will be that of your name and surname. Well I have got news for you; your name and surname don’t depict who you are, they rather assist in your traceability and registry, but not your identity. What we see is not what we get, as societal pressure has culminated in us living next to ourselves. Society has shaped us in such a manner that we constantly aspire to be whom we know we are not, and in so doing at the risk of losing our own identity in the midst of trying to fit in. Our identities have become lost in a facade of always putting our best foot forward even though we are in wobbly state of mind. This we do to remain relevant despite our own shortcomings. Because we don’t take time to get to know ourselves, we will forever be blown about by the wind, true to the saying ...”if we don’t stand for something, we will fall for everything”. Our identities have been swallowed up by the constant need to conform to what other people say what and who we are; this remains evident when even grown men and women need to be in groupies whenever they are social. Of late, prior to engaging in romantic liaisons; grown men and women first need to get approval from their groupie members before they can give the aspiring partner the nod. I mean, what happened to self-actualization and self-awareness, where because we know who and what we are, we will align ourselves with those people that share the same aspirations as we do, instead of being dictated to by our peers. What we are witnessing is a fading presence of self, even in decisions that will ultimately only affect us and not our groupie members; we strive to get their approval. Our social facade has been the cause for many young men and women to be incarcerated due to that pressure to conform; where these young people with such promising futures will risk it for a one-night stand filled with drugs, alcohol and pretty girls with children that live on the farms with their grannies, who can hardly look after themselves. We are witnessing a community that seeks solace in materialism and acceptance from fellow peers, so that we become blind to the consequences of our actions Lastly, our occupations equally don’t define us; our partners and groupies don’t define us. We need to find ourselves – not in the arms of somebody else or in the left seat of a groupie’s luxury car, but in ourselves. The greatest mistake we make is when we are not truthful to ourselves; in that instance the only person we are fooling is ourselves. Find your identity, don’t let it be defined by those members of society that want to shape you like clay into what they perceive you should be. Eewa! 2015-03-27Staff Report 2
