MATT ALLEN
Being You! The Importance of Staying True to Yourself
Our time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. – Steve Jobs
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ecently, I had the pleasure and privilege to hear and then interview Dr Ashley Bloomfield as part of a speaker series held at Scots College. What struck me most throughout Ashley’s speech and the follow up question and answer session was his complete authenticity. Throughout his presentation he reiterated three major points - tell the truth, demonstrate humility and most importantly, be yourself. Most people would agree that these three qualities are what we all aspire to being, but do we? These three characteristics (and many others) that define who you are as a person and how people perceive you are steeped in tradition, family values, common courtesy and common sense. The problem I see with common sense these days though, is that it isn’t always that common!
Teachers Matter
I believe the reason why so many New Zealanders came to trust Dr Bloomfield was that he was “real.” We could relate to him, not because he is the Director General of Health but simply because he’s a good bloke, a soft spoken father of three, a husband, a neighbour, a friend and a person that would stop in the street to say, “Gidday.”
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In my view, telling the truth, demonstrating humility and being yourself are the building blocks to being a good person, a person that people want to be around, a person people can trust and in the midst of a world pandemic, a person that a country of five million could rely upon at 1pm each day to lead us through a time of such uncertainty. Dr Bloomfield reinforced the notion of “knowing your why.” To me, I took this as understanding what it is to be you. As individuals, being truthful means that we can grow and mature and learn from our mistakes. Being humble is considered one of the virtues of the human condition, along with kindness.
