Editorial December 15, 1973 Issue

To Be What One Is

Naomi Price

It is the fashion today to encourage people "to be what they are." This is generally understood to mean that they should do what they feel inclined to do in their own way, speak frankly, and behave in whatever manner it seems humanly natural for them to behave.

The advice "be what you are" has a ring of integrity. At the first sound of it, one may be inclined to nod with approval. One may visualize the stripping of hypocrisy from thought and action, the shedding of pretense. This may seem an improvement on the conventional cover-up of a person's identity through custom and tradition, which often seem to smother progress and the fresh expression of individuality. It may appear to be a way to achieve much greater satisfaction and fulfillment than has been open to past generations.

But in practice many people, especially young ones, are often perplexed by the possibility of such freedom of expression. They may at first rush headlong into ways that are different and even bizarre. But it often becomes evident to them that they have as yet too little understanding of themselves to know what it is they really should be thinking and doing in order to fulfill their individual purpose and destiny. Then they may drift on a zigzag course from day to day, looking for guidelines, experimenting with various life-styles and philosophies—like a customer in a shoe store putting on one pair of shoes after another to try them for size. Or they may back away from the open door and relapse into the familiar grooves of their human parents until they can feel more sure that wisdom is leading the way.

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