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Modesty, honesty and friends

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Ifat Glassman

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[From my blog
Psychology of selfishness
]

Modesty, honesty and friends

To be yourself or not to be yourself? To hide your greatness, you achievements, or to share them with others?

Some, perhaps many, respond with jealousy and resentment to achievements that surpass their own.

This poses a potential down side to being good, and to being open about it. Will others not like me as much? Maybe it will be some of my closest friends?

I believe we all encounter this question at some point of our lives, maybe on the first time of getting a better grade in a test than someone else or achieving a great figure.

It is not a good idea to hide one's greatness. It is not a good idea to fake modesty.

Others may not like who you are, others may not like that you are better than them at something. Those others are not worth keeping around as friends. A friend is someone who helps you flourish, someone who encourages you to become the best that you can be and is there to celebrate it with you when you achieve it (and vice versa).

A friend is someone who loves you for who you are: YOUR sense of humor, YOUR way of thinking, YOUR taste in music, people, activities and the things you are good at.

Being open and proud of your achievements in communication with others achieves a double purpose: First, it encourages others to achieve the best that they can achieve and creates an environment where success is greeted with benevolence. Second, it allows others to know you and you to know others and tell apart the people who enjoy the sight of an achievement from those who look down at it.

Being honest requires courage, because so many things in our lives depend on how others feel about us and our actions, and yet honesty is the best way to get real friends who will love you for who you are and help you grow.

Give up being yourself, and you give up everything.

Opinions welcome.

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Modesty is not a virtue - it is self-abnegation...
A response like that leaves the reader with no clue of your opinion on the post to which you're responding. Do you completely agree, and are reiterating your support; or do you disagree and are saying why?
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