Chasing Approval

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

I believe that it is important for us to live life on our own terms.  People waste time chasing approval, and affirmation from others.  I can understand the logic of being liked – it makes things convenient.  However, we must also acquire the value of not being afraid to offend. 

Good people spend much of their lives being apologetic for who they are, what they like, what they enjoy, what they believe.  It is this ingrained need to be accepted by some imaginary majority.  The fact of the matter is that every other person is apologising for who they are.  They want to fit in somewhere so they claim to like the things their circle of friends do, and dislike what they dislike.  This is societal bandwagoning on a massive scale in all areas of our lives.  This s how we arrive at silly fads, and how we make stupid people famous because of some gimmick. 

I want no part of that.  I am here to be myself.  To paraphrase Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde, we should all be ourselves, because everybody else is taken.  And to be ourselves, we should be prepared that there will be people displeased, threatened, outraged.  Let them be.  We should learn to be unafraid to offend.