Be Like Me : Blog # 270

Be Like Me!

When we were kids, we all wanted to be like someone, isn’t it? For some of us, it was our father, mother for some and an elder brother or sister for some others. We tried hard to imitate and be like them. When we were in high school, we wanted to be like someone in XIIth grade. While in college, we looked outside. Many a time we wanted to be like a rock star, an actor or rarely, an accomplished professional.

When we were about to finish college, we slowly realized that we want to be unique. We no more wanted to be like someone else. Any comparison made to someone else started annoying us. We wanted to carve out our own identity .May be this is why we did not want to do what our parents were asking us to do. The parents want you to be like them. They have carved out a path for themselves and they have been fairly successful in that. In their mind, so why don’t you just be like me? Isn’t that a logical option? Now if the parents were not successful in whatever path they took, they would still want their children to choose the path that they chose. Again, Be like me and be what I wanted to be is the reasoning here!

Now, let us look at the work scenario. Somehow the person fights all the societal pressures and have chooses a profession which he/she likes. One thinks one is free to do whatever one wants to do and appears, the Manager! Their thinking is that they have endured many difficulties during their career and they would want you to go through the same difficulties. It doesn’t stop there. Whatever your idea of work is, it doesn’t matter. Your manager will have his/her way of working and you are expected to work like them! Of course, Be like them!

So we criticize all the people above and what do we do? In the early years of work, all of us are still open about life. Let a couple of years of experience enrich you (or should I say burden you). You want your juniors to be like you! The moment, someone comes to us for advice, we tell them the things which we have done and ask them to be like us! You start asking your younger siblings to choose the path that you chose. Wait for yourself to reach parenthood and you will see yourself telling your children to be like you.

I think there is no doubt here that we all (at least most of us) are in love with our own image. We want others to be mirror images of ourselves. We overlook the fact that we are trying to replicate ourselves and thus making this world quite a monochromatic, boring place.

Let people be different. Let the world around be diverse. Let there be little conflicts. Let us try to find peace in those conflicts. Let us try to find richness in that diversity. Let us celebrate the differences. Let people BE!

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