Today's Gentleman

We are all called upon to fulfill multiple roles in life, friend, sibling, offspring, parent, colleague, team mate, neighbour and mentor to name a few.  Many people struggle with the demands of creating or defining the different personas  required for these various roles we are required to play in life within differing environments.

The danger, though, is to feel the need to redefine yourself for each setting.  Granted, there are probably differing expectations of you in each setting, but this shouldn’t change the fundamental way in which you approach the world.

As we mature we are constantly taking in examples of certain behaviour which we observe, and we try to emulate those which we admire.  The important thing to remember though is to take these pieces and make them your own, congruent with your world view and approach to others.  Some people become an amalgam of  confusing attributes and contradictory behaviour as they try to become something which they are not.

You must be grounded first, grounded in what you believe, what you stand for, and what your priorities are in life.  Only then can you present yourself as a consistent person of integrity in any facet of your life.

We need to be careful when approaching the world, with different faces, or masks, within different settings. We shouldn’t deviate too far from our core being.  Our own core being is our creation and a precious thing, like a beautifully crafted gem, and we should not feel reluctant to let let it be seen.  We do this by allowing others to see into it through the different facets we present to them at various times in defferent settings, not by masking it completely with incongruent behaviour.

A key aspect of a gentleman is that he knows himself, and is comfortable with that.  As a result his behaviour, in all situations, is congruent with his beliefs.