William Shakespeare is one of the most quoted authors. In his play “Hamlet” we find these words, “To thine own self be true.” So what does this all mean and what does it have to do with you? In the play Hamlet there is a scene where Polonius, who is the father, gives his son Laertes, this final advice as his parting words, hoping that if Laertes remembers nothing else that his father taught him, that he should remember this one lesson: “This, above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.” Hamlet, Act 1, scene 3, 78–81
What does this all mean? You may say, people just need to be themselves. Well, this may be true but there is more here than you may have not thought about. First of all, everyone has worth. Everyone has potential. Everyone has a choice. We know that everyone is unique, in fact, no two people have the same fingerprints. In fact, we may have gone through similar experiences, but that is all, it was only similar, because each person’s life is not the same even with similar experiences. Even twins are not completely the same, they too, may be different in their DNA. So the point is that you are you and you should not try to be or act like someone else. If you do try to be like someone else, then you will become very depressed and anxiety will come upon you because you were meant to be you. You have to be your own best friend. You have to be loyal to you. This does not mean that you can not be a friend, for to be a friend you must act like a friend. We sometimes forget that when we are a friend to someone that need not forfeit who we are. In fact, it is even more important to be who we are when amongst our friends. To be a friend does not mean that you have to go along with the crowd. You have an opinion, you have your own set of standards. If people can not accept you as you are then they are not your friends, and they will never lift you up but tear you down. This is what is meant by being true to who you are. If you were raised in a home that believes in God and went to church then this is what you should also believe because even though you are who you are, you still have roots and those roots are in your family. If your family did not go to church or believe in God, then you still should be a person of character and that character should be one that is well rounded. You see no person is an island to himself. We all need other people in our lives, but the question is how do we treat other people? Are we a bully, are we considerate, are we mindful of other peoples’ feelings? We all live in a society of people and we must all get along and to get along we must be civil toward each other. This brings us back to being true to ourselves. If you plant a seed, let’s say an apple seed, well then you will grow an apple tree and bear apples. This is like our lives. If we plant anger we will reap anger. If we plant kindness, we will reap kindness. Don’t get tangled in the weeds, because the weeds are what chokes out the seedling. Shakespeare’s Hamlet teaches us that we must be true to ourselves but we have to ask the question, what kind of person am I? Am I there to lift up someone who is down, to wipe the eyes of a person who is crying out for help? Maybe you say, “I am that person.” If you are, then there’s no better way to help yourself than by helping another. If you are true to yourself then you must be true to others.
Faith Hill sang a great song called, When You Cry. Here is a verse… “When you cry, I will dry your eyes. When you fall, I’ll lift you up high. You just reach for these arms of mine. I promise they won’t let you go, when you cry.” Also, you will be surprised how a smile can lift not only your spirit, but someone else’s spirit.
Here is another great song sung by Uncle Sam called When I See You Smile. Here is a verse… “When I see you smile, I can face the world. You know I can do anything when I see you smile, I see a ray of light. I see it shining right through the rain when I see you smile.”
We must all be an asset to society. We must all do good and in doing good, society will prosper and not be hindered. Each person has their own part to play and if we play it well, then society will grow and bear good fruit that will nourish the whole. But if we do not do our part as little as it may seem, then it is like a puzzle that is missing a piece. You just never will get the whole picture. Don’t follow the crowd. Be an individual and let your light shine in the darkness. Let your light lead others to do good, and I know good is different to every person. But you have to ask yourself, “ What will be the result of my actions?” Gluing yourself to a picture will not help the environment. Marching in the street will not change minds. What good is it to destroy property or other people’s lives? We must be true to ourselves and we must be true to society. This is why we must have a moral conscience and to have a moral conscience, we must have someone to look up to. But not anyone, because we are all flawed in one way or another. We are all of different opinions. We all set our course differently in life. No, we must have someone who is above it all. Someone who stands above and looks down and sees the whole picture. We are only human beings, but there is a supreme being. There has to be, or else, man would have destroyed itself a long time ago. This is what the oldest book on earth has to say about being true to one’s self. The book is called the Bible. Let’s start with “Love your neighbor as yourself.” So the next logical thing would be that “We must treat others as we would like to be treated.”
And of course, “If we do not judge someone, then they should not judge us.” “If we forgive others then we should also be forgiven.” “If we give to others in need then we should also be able to receive when we are in need”. This all makes sense, and yet, we do not follow the Golden Rule of the Bible. The Bible is a great moral compass, like this verse that speaks to hypocrisy. “Why do you notice the small piece of dust that is in your friend’s eye, but you don’t see the big piece of wood that is in your own eye? You say to your friend, ‘Let me get that little piece of dust out of your eye.’ Why do you say this? Can’t you see that big piece of wood in your own eye? You are a hypocrite. First, take the wood out of your own eye. Then you will see clearly to get the dust out of your friend’s eye.”’
So basically that takes us to this, “A good tree does not produce bad fruit. And a bad tree does not produce good fruit. Every tree is known by the kind of fruit it produces. You won’t find figs on thorny weeds. And you can’t pick grapes from thorn bushes! Good people have good things saved in their hearts. That’s why they say good things. But those who are evil have hearts full of evil, and that’s why they say things that are evil. What people say with their mouths comes from what fills their hearts.”
This is all so true and when we are being true to ourselves, we must also be honest with ourselves. We can not pretend that we are someone that we’re not. We can not live our lives one way when people are looking and then live another way when people are not looking. We must have integrity, what you see is what you get. This is the real you…what you are when no one is looking. This is when you are truly true to yourself. What you think in your heart is who you really are. Today search your heart and know for sure who you really are and then be true to yourself. You can not help yourself or the world if in the deepest part of your heart there is no honesty between you and yourself. Living a lie will only destroy you in the end. Shakespeare knew this when he wrote Hamlet and he knew that the father in this scene truly loved his son to tell him to be true to himself and not to live a lie. How about you? I think that if you have read this whole article, you truly want to be the person that is deep down inside of you. And I say with God’s help you can!