Being True to oneself: Helpful or Harmful?

History has shown that “this above all: to thine own self be true” can lead to heroism and strength or stubbornness and disaster. Rosa Parks, Adolf Hitler, and Abraham Lincoln all prove Shakespeare’s theory, but are their actions always helpful to others? While the statement sounds good, it can, in fact lead to disastrous results. In the final analysis, being true to oneself can be an excuse to hurt others as much as a shining example of altruism.

Rosa Parks built up a great deal of courage in order to prove to the world that she was true to herself, even if she had to suffer huge consequences. When Rosa was forty three years old, racial segregation flooded the United States. There were separate schools, bathrooms, and even drinking fountains for black people. Many other laws were “designed to make [white people] feel superior, and [blacks] feel inferior” (Standing). One law prohibited black people from sitting on the front of the bus. Rosa Parks, however, fought this law on December 1, 1955. Contrary to what most believe, Rosa did not sit in the front of the bus. She sat down in the back, but there were no more seats on the bus. A white passenger had nowhere to sit, so the bus driver told Rosa to move, and she finally realized that it was her chance to fight the ongoing racism. Rosa told the bus driver she would not move, and he threatened to and eventually did sign a warrant against her. Rosa was arrested because she “didn’t want to be mistreated like others were for years” (Standing). The judge found Rosa guilty of all charges, and a boycott blacks began against bus rides on December 5. Blacks would not ride the buses “until charges for the better were made” (Standing). Rosa refused to stand up on the bus because she believed that everyone “should be free and equal and have all opportunities that others should have” (Standing). In an

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interview, Rosa Parks stated that she felt it was “not right to be deprived of freedom when we were living in the Home of the Brave and Land of the Free” (Standing). She knew she had the right idea and that if she did not speak up then, no one would. Rosa’s fight for equality impacted society greatly. She started the Montgomery Improvement Association, which advocated freedom and equality. Her audacious efforts even began the Civil Rights Movement, a struggle to ensure that all Americans, whether black or white, would have the same basic civil rights. In the end, Rosa obtained what she thought was the American dream: “to have a good life, and to live well, and to be a good citizen” (Standing). Rosa Parks stayed true to herself, and as a result, she changed the horrible way blacks were treated.

On the other hand, Adolf Hitler was definitely one of the cruelest and yet genius people of all time. He followed what he believed in, but the result was a complete debacle. Hitler was first announced chancellor of Germany in March of 1933 after he wrote a book in jail titled Mein Kampf, meaning “My Struggle.” His book spoke of his philosophy regarding politics and his views on anti-Semitism. Hitler despised Jews and wanted to murder all “within the German grasp” (Browning 1). According to author Christopher R. Browning, “Hitler’s anti-Semitism was both obsessive and central to his political outlook” (1). In order to kill all Jews, Hitler and his Nazi party decided to deport them to small overcrowded ghettos. However, this soon became too difficult, and Hitler needed a “final solution” to the Jewish problem (Browning 11). Hitler and his Nazi followers decided to create concentration camps where they would burn Jews in ovens after killing them in “showers” of poisonous gas or shooting them. Often times the Jews would be separated from their families and have no idea if their brothers and sisters were alive or dead. They fought for food, but still became so thin that they felt sick and often perished. Overall, the “isolation, concentration…intimidation, incarceration, and humiliation of German Jews created a climate and situation [helpful] to their subsequent deportation and destruction” (Browning 175). In the end, Hitler was defeated, but not before he killed over five million

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innocent Jews. Although he followed his beliefs that the world should be rid of Jewish people, he did an astronomical amount of damage and no help.

Abraham Lincoln “had a lasting influence on American political values