We says being oneself is a good thing. It has become an axiom.

But what it means to be yourself? Or even, what is yourself?

There are so many ways to answer this question, but one answer is that yourself is your identity.

We cannot see ourselves without considering any of our identity, so let us consider it as a temporary answer.

Then, what is being yourself? It is to acquire new identity you want or to throw away your current identity you do not like.

If so, in many modern societies which allow us to be ourselves abrogating hierarchy and giving us the right to choose any vocations we want, are we able to be ourselves? If you think so, we must remember most of the deprived or disadvantaged are bound to their current positions, and we tend to forget a power to bind the "unlucky" people.

It is the scope in our eyes. We look at anyone through the scope of identity. The scope judges people if they are being yourself, or not. The scope judges the consistency of the identity of the object. Let us imagine when we say "Be yourself!". For example, we say it when they are hesitating to quit a job even though they do not like it at all(inconsistency between preference and action). So we internalized the axiom and judge people using their identity. "Well....What's wrong with it? Does it have anything to do with the deprived?" you might say.

Yes. We might be the ones who keep the deprived being deprived. We use this scope toward them as well. Then, we will find inconsistency of them, like "they've got the new cool shoes I wanted!" or "They posted the picture of lunch of 20 dollars on the Instagram!". Then you think like "But aren't they the one who claimed they cannot even buy PC for their schoolwork because of poverty?" If you do not look very carefully, you think that they are not being themselves and that they can buy PC if they really want by scrimping and saving.

Their seemingly inconsistent behavior comes from the very attempt to be themselves. The poor cannot be just poor. They are also human beings, and try to be their ideal self. They want to look cool. They want to go lunch with their friends. And they want to do homework just like other students. They buy their identity through consumption as we do.

However, the attempts look like deviation for others.

"If you work really hard, you'll succeed." Only who can be successful without working really hard can says this because they would not lose any of their looks, friends, and achievement by working hard. They don't have to worry about the consequence of failure. For the fortunate, working hard is just acquiring, while for the poor it is not only trading but also losing everything.

Why do they have to sacrifice everything for the mere chance of their achievement. Why cannot they live like others.

We must keep it in mind that we might hurt others with the maxim "Be yourself."

*I wrote this according to Japanese research and through experience in Japan, so this hypothesis might not be applied depending on your culture. If you have any experience or knowledge to share, please tell me. That would be so helpful.

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