Show I till Be Yourself i By Dy JOHN BLAKE So common is pose and pretension that be yourself yourself your your- self seU has come to be a a. slang phrase which takes the place of ot cut It out ut or forget torget It U as a form of ot address to people that the user of ot slang does not approve of ot S It takes many of ot us a a. long time to realize that we have distinct personalities which can be Improved improved improved Im im- im- im proved but which cannot bo be radically changed The young girl who who adopts the mariners manners of ot a a. movie actress the boy who wha thinks he will vill be Impressive im impressive impressive Im- Im If it ho acts like a a a. prizefighter prizefighter- all need to tobe tobe tobe be told forcibly now and then to be themselves And it Is well to be ourselves in thought as well as Jn ln manner S Talk to to half to-half half haU a 3 dozen men and you will discover that four of ot them get their opinions from their employers or their political leaders or from the newspapers rs and express press them flamboyantly as If they were vere the result of long and careful cogitation Imitation Is natural and necessary In children But It should subside at the age of ot 18 or 19 The personality which we ve so admire In people who have ha the right kind cannot be cultivated It has hasto hasto hasto to be natural Usually It U arises out of consideration for others and the desire put them at ease ease Parading before others In one or several se as assumed assumed as- as roles merely m makes kes them rather ill Ul It never either Impresses or entertains them A young lady of ot my acquaintance Is always different different dif dif dif- ferent when I 1 meet her Sometimes she Is stormy and temperamental at others cold and cynical again shy and timorous She was born none none of ot these things as she will wll some day discover She is young enough to find out before It Is too toolate toolate toolate late that she Is Just an ordinary moderately Intelligent Intelli- Intelli gent young woman with good looks enough to at attract attract attract at- at tract a husband and with sufficient mentality to keep him when she has got him But Dut she Is going through the Imitative stage stag now and It lt will do her considerable good 1 If she 1 Is told quite often otten and quite energetically to be herself her her- self Everybody E Is sufficiently different from everybOdy every every- body else to give them a little piquancy and to Interest others provided that they do not try to b be anything which they are not The world has no na use for posers poser It is swift to detect pose Few of ot us can be bs what we want to be for we all want to be heroes and millionaires and Inventors and beauties and great actors I But Dut most people can be something useful and pleasant and Intelligent and companionable If it they will just be natural Curiously enough for many people being natural natura seems to be the hardest thing in the world Which is probably why the phrase be yourself which might have originated with a philosopher like Emerson has come to be the current slang of the streets and Is used as a substitute ul for almost every other form fonn of expression of ot disgust for conduct which arouses general dislike Copyright 1925 by the Bell Dell S Syndicate Inc |