She LOOKED like the real thing

It amazes me at times to see how low people will go in order to get others to like them. Sometimes it's at the risk of their own dignity, like in the case of David Brent in The Office, or even at the risk of offending others... again, like David Brent in The Office. (I've been watching a lot of The Office recently.)

Somebody interestingly said the other day that one only acts artificially in order to get others to like them. It sounded very playgroundy to me, especially as this person was referring to the actions of one in a University environment where I thought everyone was supposed to be appreciated for their uniqueness- I mean, how could anyone act artificially for that long? Hasn't Big Brother taught us anything? But then upon reflection I realised how true it is of so many people I've met at University. On the other side of the scale there are those who are so stubborn in their ways that they really don't care whether people like them or not. I don't really need to say anything about those sorts of people, because they probably won't care.

I'd like to believe that whenever I act I do so taking everyone, including myself into account. But the truth is that I can be just as selfish as everyone else. We all want to be liked, and sometimes that means forgetting everyone else's feelings and doing whatever is necessary to satisfy everyone's expectations. But can acting like this ever be justified?

Personally I don't think it can. Wanting to please others is a disease that I've seen in way too many people already, and it never ends well. The fact is, we can't please everyone forever. The way I see it, if we're not ourselves then eventually we'll forget who we are. At the same time I believe that we've all got to learn to compromise once-in-a-while. If not for anything else, then at least for the sake of peace. It's about striking the balance- And once you've struck that balance you'll experience the sort of peace with those around you that you'd never have thought was possible in this world.

As for the people who still act artificially, and forget who they are...