People, just think about it.

Had an email from a young lady friend of a young male friend of mine the other day. On the face of it she seemed a little wild and random, but polite and nice when face to face. I was a little surprised at the message.

Basically, she was thanking me for being "nice" to her in our conversations during her relationship with my young friend. I told her I tried - though sometimes didn't succeed - in being nice as much as I could.She explained some of her background (I didn't think of it as being bad) and how so many people she knew kept putting her down because she believed in really odd and old fashioned things ie; fidelity in relationships, honesty, abstinence until marriage, really heavy concepts like that. Some in their circle called her wierd, a fruitcake and other rude things and made her feel less than worthy.

Sorry, in my book she is a hero.

Someone willing to stand up for they believe in despite the peer pressure, despite the negativity being thrust their way. This young lady had/has a plan for her life; education, finding a job she enjoyed enough to spend her life working at, loving her partner when the time came to settle down, being honest in all relationships. Sorry, thinking like that is becoming a rarity these days.

Right at that point I would have adopted her.

But her stand had the negative effect of making her put different masks over her personality so she could "fit in". She changed herself to suit the group, because she thought she was powerless to change the group.

The best you can do is hold on to your truth. Be yourself, so long as it is HONESTLY yourself. You will suffer the slings and arrows of others not so far up the evolutionary ladder as you, but if you are honest about who you are and what you believe then you are a winner.

Don't change to lower yourself. Don't try to change others (that trick never works!).

And don't change to please others.

As Popeye said:

And he didn't mean a root vegetable.

In today's more enlightened language, you are a GURU.

Break it down ...

Gee, You are you!

Be the You you want to be.