I once knew a person that drove a Cadillac with a Jaguar emblem on the front. It was commonly known as the “Jagillac.”
The person that drove the car eventually went on to get a graduate degree, so there was nothing intellectually deficient about them, at least not to the point where I could prove it.
The thing that bothered me the most about the mismatch between the car and emblem was that the car was actually really nice. It was certainly nicer than anything I was driving.
It made me wonder why this person felt the need to pretend her car was something else when the car she had was far better than most people were driving.
How often have you looked back at pictures of yourself and seen a person that was much better than you believed them to be when the picture was taken? How often do we pretend to be something else when what we are is just fine? We often spend our time wondering why we’re not what we believe we should be, all the time failing to recognize the individual qualities we possess.
While the criticisms we place upon ourselves can be substantial, they rarely compare to the criticisms we heap upon those that are just like us. For many people, there’s nothing more debilitating than coming in contact with someone who’s just like them. They say that opposites attract each other. The converse is also true of those with numerous similarities. The things we don’t like about ourselves are easy to see in others. Looking for yourself in others that seem to bother you is a good first step to recognizing the attributes about yourself that you don’t like. Once the possible problem has been identified, you can determine what, if anything, you’re going to change.
There’s nothing wrong with self improvement, but take a realistic look at yourself before you decide to be something you’re not. No one is perfect, and there’s nothing wrong with being yourself. Is life happier if you live it pretending to be something you’re not? Living life under an alias is not living at all. Being the best you can be while being yourself is not guaranteed to bring you immortal happiness, but it’s a good start.
I think the Jaguar emblem would have been cool on an old, beaten down Cadillac. It seemed a bit of a waste as it was displayed. I bet it would have looked great on the 1981 Chevette I was driving in high school. On the other hand, why do I care about what this person puts on their car? Is it any of my business? It seems like I would do better for myself if I didn’t worry about others and only worried about myself.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the “Jagillac.” I figure the car probably isn’t even running any more. However, if it’s out there, and it is still running, I’d think about buying it. You see, by now, the car would have grown into the novelty of having a Jaguar emblem on the front. Sometimes you just have to wait until you mature into how you’re supposed to be.
Waiting to become who you are is the hard part. That’s true for everybody, especially those of us way up in the CHEAP SEATS!
Don’t Be a “Jagillac”