"Always be a first-rate version of yourself"

Have you ever noticed how Batman is typically portrayed as intense, humorless, and serious; while Spider-Man on the other hand, is usually glib, sarcastic, and funny?  I’ve been trying to contemplate a Batman that goes up to Alfred or Robin and starts telling jokes to break the tension of a situation.  My mind rejects such a notion.  Similarly, a Spider-Man who doesn’t deliver his share of jokes (no matter how corny they are sometimes) also doesn’t compute in my brain.  Just as I can’t imagine a humorless Spider-Man or a wisecracking Batman, you and I just need to be ourselves and not force ourselves to be someone that we are not.

Let me expound on this by sharing an example from my own life.  To be candid, I’m somewhat hesitant to share this, but I’m going to do so because I love you all and I want to help you.  It’s not a big secret that my intrinsic personality is more along the lines of Batman.  I’m not what you’d call the class clown.  

Having said that, I must admit there was a time, many years ago, when I acted out of character.  For a season, I put on a facade of being a wacky guy who was the life of the party.  In actuality, I’m rather quiet and shy.  I did this as a crutch for the pain of rejection I was feeling at the time.  I have subsequently been healed from this pain, through the power of forgiveness.  But the main point here is my false guise didn’t go over well.  You can’t put a square peg in a circular hole, so to speak. 

From that experience, I learned not to act outside of the innate personality that God gave me.  I learned that I have to be the person that God created me to be, not act like someone else.  According to my Internet research, from the year 2000 to 2002, Dr. Pepper had this slogan: “Be you.”  That’s the bottom line for today's blog: “Be you.”

Kevin

“Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else” - Judy Garland