In all my readings and acquiring of knowledge I did not know that there will come a time when I will be faced with such a question as this. It was not an easy one because I was taken unaware and mind you, if you have not or does not think towards answering this question at some point in your life then you are going to be faced with the same reaction I faced. For the general understanding of this article and why I decided to bring it to our knowledge, I will like to state clearly that if you have been doing something and you have never searched your heart to know how proud you are with that which you are doing I bet you, you are missing a very vital point of your life. While you are busy chasing after riches, wealth and all the good things of life, did you not know that your actions, attitude and character will one day be used to judge you? A lot of us do not understand that we are going to be held accountable for everything we do knowingly or unknowingly.
This question deserves a very careful and thoughtful answer which will lead you to the understanding of what you are doing in life and how it has affected your existence as a person and others at large. For me to do justice to this article, I will love to give it subheadings in a bid to elaborate for proper and better understanding. The first thing I will want us to look at is self.
SELF
Have you ever sat down to look at the word self and its true meaning? Let me help you by turning it into a question. What is self? The English dictionary defines self as a person’s personality, disposition, demeanour or character. It is also known as personal identity or personality. Looking at the above definition you will understand that you are what people see about you. If self is your personality, what it means is that you must be very careful not to give people a wrong impression of yourself. A lot of people do not bother to protect themselves when it comes to public behaviour, they act and behave in ways that speak very low of them. For you to understand if you are proud of what you have become, you must have understood yourself as an individual. Do you know thyself?
The next one I will want us to look at is community.
COMMUNITY
It is a known fact that one cannot talk about the community without mentioning its culture and way of life. To draw a connection between what this article is all about, let me start by saying that one who does not understand the norms and cultures of his community will always be caught up as a defaulter. As we all know that culture is a people’s way of life, we are expected to have or live by the tenets of our community before we can say that we are proud of what we have become. For instance, if you find yourself in a community where rape, stealing, kidnapping, lying and every other vice is abhorred you cannot be seen going contrary by committing these crimes. The outcome will be that the entire community will see you as a miscreant and a notorious person and by so doing you cannot say that you are proud of what you have become unless you embrace a positive change.
Last but not least I want us to look at is what every one of us neglects dues to how infinitesimal we see it to be meanwhile it is not.
PUBLIC OPINION
I have had a situation where I was forced to ask a friend what she thinks or how she sees the opinion of others as regards her mode of dressing. I was so surprised when she said that she does not care or bother herself with what people see about her or how they see her as long as she is ok with the way she is dressed. What this means is that if she is comfortable enough with coming out half-naked then she does not care about public opinion. A lot of us are in this category because we believe public opinion does not matter. Let me try and connect the three points I have made in this article and how they are all entwined together. When you understand self as regards your personality, you must make sure it aligns with your present communal norms and way of life and by so doing you won’t have any problem with public opinion. You can read it again just to be sure that you understood what I just stated there.
Having said all of these let me ask you this very pertinent question. Are you proud of what you have become? I want you to take a minute of your time to think through all the things I have stated in this article because if we do not examine our lives as individuals then our life is not worth living. You cannot claim that you do not know how or what wrong you have been doing as a person because you can lie to others but you cannot lie to yourself even when you may want to try and lie to yourself. I have thought about the above question and I have seen that there are things I could do better therefore I made decisions to do them right. Remember that you can only be proud of that which is acceptable in your community (norms) of residence and that will make you walk with your shoulders high. Let us rebuild ourselves and our communities at large because when we live a life filled with goodness and positivity, our community will become a heaven on earth for every one of us. I love you all, stay safe.
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