Are You You or Are You Them?

Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his essay, Self Reliance, teaches that to be the true you, you must be yourself, without regard for fitting in. Be who you are in the present, now.

What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think...It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with
perfect sweetness the independence of solitude...When a man lives with God, his voice shall be as sweet as the murmur of the brook and the rustle of the corn...
When good is near you, when you have life in yourself, it is not by any known or accustomed way; you shall not discern the foot-prints of any other; you shall not see the face of man; you shall not hear any name; - the way, the thought, the good, shall be wholly strange and new. It shall exclude example and experience...

Each of us is unique, and only as we live as the unique individual we are can we have impact for ourselves and for the world. Don't submit to the passions of this age, or any age, be who you are.

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds, and praise your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16