‘Last time I checked, I wasn’t born to please anyone.’ I saw this written on the wall of one of the bathroom stalls in my school. I am sure in no time, it will be erased by the cleaning staff who manage to find every blemish in our fine school. But don’t worry, the person who wrote that, I noticed your little act of teenage rebellion. And it made me think.
Unfortunately, you went to all that trouble of finding a permanent marker and contemplating the right words to scribble down, just for possibly the only person to see it to disagree with you.
I completely understand that we were not, in fact, born to serve others, and that, more often than not, we should not care what others think if it is going to restrict us from fulfilling our true desires. However, it comes to a certain point when our main desire should be to make others happy.
Prioritising your own happiness above others’ can often lead to wonderful feelings but those don’t always last very long. On the other hand, spending a lifetime putting others before yourself in small ways, purely in the hopes of making them happy, can lead to a continuous feeling of fulfilment. This most certainly doesn’t mean you have to start performing colossal acts of generosity to every person you meet. It’s the small things that people reflect back on and that make them smile. Offer your four-seater seat on the train to the woman with the buggy, give your change to the less fortunate, donate old clothes to charity shops rather than throwing them away, take a moment of your time to sign important petitions, remind your friend that they look nice today, give a small Christmas gift to the homeless man you see on the way to work, save up your money to buy the thing your sister really wanted rather than spending it on yourself just this once.
Try your best to please people. See what happens. If it doesn’t work out for you, I offer my sincerest apologies and hope you find joy in writing your thoughts in the cracks between the tiling of public restrooms.
