Another View
Be Elvis or Just Be Yourself
I saw a bad Elvis impersonator on a street corner in Portland, Ore., this past summer. I watched him from across the street as I sat with my daughter at an outdoor café in one of Portland’s lovely small-town neighborhoods.
He wore all the accoutrements of a typical Elvis imitator: thick black hair, yellow plastic glasses, white sequined bell-bottoms, red cape and hand-held microphone. He looked the part. But when he sang? Nothing at all like the real "Jailhouse Rock" rocker. If someone walked by without stopping or tossing money, he drooped his shoulders and stopped singing, leaning down to turn off the boom box that sat near his white vinyl boot-clad feet.
Nothing sadder, I thought, than a bad Elvis impersonator. All the trouble it must take to dress for his excursion to the street. And frankly, unless it’s really Elvis, it looks stupid so being a good Elvis impersonator is crucial.Throughout my life I have experimented with different looks and attitudes in an effort to discover who I really am. Most of us experience that during the adolescent years. As we grow older we begin to find the one that fits the best — if we're really fortunate, and if we can remain at a constant weight through the years, this outfit wears the best.
A friend recently told me, "If they give you the hat to wear, wear it and wear it proudly."
My friend had been a drill sergeant in the army during World War II, and despite his small stature, he ruled his platoon as well as any general on the field of battle. One day a 6-foot, 3-inch newbie thought he could have some fun with the short sergeant. But my friend, large in all ways that count, gave the new recruit a taste of his leadership style by pulling him out and ordering him to do 250 push ups. My friend's supervisor witnessed the whole affair and pulled him aside later.
"I saw how you treated Cpl. Smith today," he began. "What made you think you could do that?"
"I was just doing my job, Sir," my friend replied. "If I didn't do something, I'd lose the whole platoon."
"That's what I want to hear. When you've been given a hat to wear, wear it."
Wise words indeed. I remember them as I begin a new job this month. Several times I find myself stepping on the toes of those around me as I do the job given to me by my boss. But I always remember to wear the hat of editor, even if it means I might not be particularly popular.
I might not be impersonating Elvis, but I am doing my job and doing it in the best way I can. No one can be asked to do any more than that.
If we try to pass the hat off onto someone else, or we shrink from wearing the hat, we might end up doing bad Elvis impersonations on some street in a nameless city where no one stops to listen.
"Are you going to give him some money?" my daughter asked as I continued to watch the Elvis wanna-be across the street.
"I'm thinking about it, but I don't want to contribute to this charade," I answered.
I wanted to walk across the street and give him the best philosophy I could impart.
"If you're going to be Elvis, be Elvis, or just be yourself," I wanted to say. "But whatever you do, wear the hat that fits you the best and don't let anyone else tell you to take it off until you are sure it's a hat you no longer want to wear."
I never got the chance to tell him, but I certainly have used the philosophy myself since that day. Whenever I find myself headed away from who I am, I remember that man in Portland and say to anyone who will listen, “If you’re going to be Elvis, be Elvis.”
Maybe that Elvis is wearing the right hat after all.
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