I Was In The Army With a Bear Hunter

I was stationed in Egypt for a year when I was in the US Army. While stationed there, I met a bunch of people. One of the guys that I met while I was there was a guy who was in my unit named John.

By his own admission, he told me that he thought he was funny looking. Not really overly obscure looking, but to him, he thought that he was a bit different to others. His torso was longer than his legs, so he walked a bit different. He talked through his teeth. His voice was kind of squeaky, and didn't sound so pleasing to your ears.

I remember we were sitting outside talking and he was telling me about how he would go on vacation by himself all the time. He told me that he didn't have alot of friends, so when it came time to go on leave, he would just go by himself and have some adventure without any friends.

He explained to me that when he was on vacation by himself that he would take on the persona or life story of someone interesting every time he would be somewhere. One time, when on vacation, he would told people that his full time job was a bear hunting expedition leader in Alaska. That it was his job to take people out and go hunt bear.

As we were sitting there talking, I asked him why he did that and he explained it to me. "You know Matt, I'm a funny looking guy with a squeaky voice who talks through his teeth" he said. "I'm a guy in the Army with a really uninteresting job. Who wants to hang out with that guy? Everyone wants to hang out with a bear hunter". The reason that John took on another persona was that he didn't like who he was and he wanted people to like him.

I can identify with that. I want people to like me, and at times throughout my life, I've done or said things that I normally wouldn't do, thinking that it would make people like me. Wearing certain clothes, saying certain things, going places I normally wouldn't go, and doing things I normally wouldn't do. Basically doing whatever it took to get them to like me. I didn't tell people I was a bear hunter, but I wasn't true to myself, that's for sure.

Here's what I found out though- usually, the people who liked me the most were the ones who liked me when I was being myself, not someone who I thought they wanted me to be. People can sniff out when people are not being themselves, and when they do, they don't like it.

Are you true to yourself? Do you try to be someone who you are not to try and impress someone? Do you compromise what you are to get people to like you?

Here's what the Bible says- that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. God made me the way he wanted to make me for a reason. I may not look like everyone else, sound like everyone else, or be like everyone else, but that has to be for a reason, because that's the way God made me.

Be yourself today. Don't try to be who people want you to be, but the person that God created you to be. You might sound funny, look funny and walk differently, but that's who you are.

You don't have to be a bear hunter to get people to like you.

Blessings
Matt