Self-respect V/S Reputation

What matters more?

Reputation — that’s all our society cares about in today’s world? A girl who puts on a very adorable Vuitton apparel, wears a limited edition watch from Gucci, sprays on Dior perfume and roams around masked in L’Oreal make up, well she does get a lot of attention from people. But to be honest, I’m not exactly speaking about that kind of a reputation. By reputation, I am referring to the normal image that a person creates of himself in front of others. Yeah well, I do believe that reputation is a good word and it is important to have a good image of you in front of others. But does that reputation really count if you don’t have even a pinch of self-respect within yourself? And again to remind everyone, there’s a fine line between self-respect and admiration for oneself. You may admire yourself to your heart’s content, but do you respect yourself for what you do every day?

It was one fine day when I was having a walk with my best friend. She spoke about how much the teachers in our school hated her and had a very bad image of her. Not only the teachers, but also some of her own friends did back-bitch about her. It was that very moment when I wondered if she was disappointed for the right cause and then I was like, “Yeah dude, people do hate you. They do have a really downgraded image of you in their eyes. But, do you believe that they know you even a bit more than what you know about yourself? Girl, if you don’t respect yourself, then how do you expect them to do it for you?” That did arouse a bit of smile on her face, but when I could sense that she wasn’t yet satisfied with what I had just said, I decided to elaborate a little. Now, this may be a bit boring, but anyways, what I replied to her was, “Do you know that other girl who studies in our grade? Yeah, the same one whom people suppose to be the most innocent being in the world, the girl whom the teachers admire the most and whom everyone thinks to be the perfect person. But did you know how hard she tries to maintain that reputation? No one can be perfect and neither is she. She behaves so well in front of us, but I have literally seen the opposite side of her (not to mention it publicly) after the school hours. She may admire herself a lot for having such a well-maintained image of herself in school. But does she respect herself for what she does outside the school-world?” My best friend satisfactorily replies, “Negative.”

So, that’s what I have been talking about. If you kick animals, harass people, hurt other people’s feelings and support wrong deeds, then visiting the church everyday doesn’t really matter anymore. Whereas, if you respect other people, help others and don’t do things just to put up a fake impression of yourself, then you wouldn’t even need to visit the church for getting blessings. Being judgmental, putting up an opinion of a person without even actually knowing them, can result in either a good or bad reputation of the person in front of you. The same can happen with you too and it’s not a big deal. But what I believe is that no matter what others think about you, when you yourself are ready to respect yourself for whatever good you do, that’s when you will happen to experience real bliss.

I don’t know how many people out there consider that having a better reputation is more important than having that much of self-respect, but I am definitely not one of them.