Why do people hate when others feel sorry for them? We as humans have created this idea that if someone pities us, we are less of a person than they are. This is what leads people to keep the things they are ashamed of about themselves a secret. In the short story “Shame”, Dick
Gregory tells a story about being pitied by his classmates and his teacher when he was younger.
He was embarrassed for something that he could not control and it affected him for most of his life. Gregory did his best to keep his poverty a secret so that his fellow classmates and friends wouldn’t know that he was different than they were. This is what is called secret shame, it is where people try to keep something they are ashamed of a secret so that they don’t have to deal with the constant…show more content… The more people try to hide what they are ashamed of, the more opportunities to be pitied will arise. Gregory wrote about a time where he was trying to impress a girl but was embarrassed by the fact he was dealing with poverty. It is a tough concept to understand as a child but if
Gregory had just accepted his lifestyle and been proud of what he had instead of being ashamed, then nobody can judge him or pity him. If a person is not ashamed of any aspect of themselves, then how can an outsider pity them? Shame is thought as something that is inevitable because that is the easiest excuse to make for being upset over being judged, but is that really true? No, shame isn’t inevitable, it’s preventable. The things people tend to be ashamed of are the same things they do their best to hide from the general public. If people just take pride in their faults, knowing that they are just as unique and special as every other person then, they will never be ashamed of themselves or their lives.
Hockett 3
Life is not always the easiest, but if people just live life as if they are an open book then they will never have anything to hide which will lead to less shame and pity. Hiding the
