Proving One’s Self

Why do young people feel, at one time or another, the need to prove their strength, endurance, or maturity? Have you ever felt this way? If so, describe the situation. What were you trying to prove? To whom? Have you witnessed this happen with someone else, either in real life or in a fictional account? Describe the situation and try to determine the young person’s motivation.

Young people, and generally most people in life, will at some point or another feel as though they need to prove themselves through acts that display their strength, endurance, maturity, or something else. Most times these acts of proving oneself occur because that person wishes to gain the approval or respect of group (for example, Daniel from The Karate Kid, who participates in the karate tournament to gain the respect of the local bullies). It's not only in this situation does one need to prove him/herself though; placement in society is all about how you can prove yourself. This doesn't necessarily occur because we wish to impress others; in contrast, I think that most of out actions where we try to prove ourselves are done for our own benefit - to prove to ourselves that we have the capability. People need to prove to their bosses that they should be promoted; players need to prove to their coaches they can play well enough to start; and we as students continually try to prove ourselves by doing the best in every class.

On a more jovial note, like all males from any species men need to prove ourselves in order to gain the approval of a special someone.

Have I ever felt like I need to prove myself? Except, as mentioned above, my role as a student to do good schoolwork, how I try to impress people with first impressions, and how I respond to the expectations from my parents and from God and myself, I'd have to say that's it.

A big, and famous, example I can think of is from the film The Karate Kid, where Daniel learns karate in order to prove himself to the neighborhood bullies (as well as to prove to himself) that he is worthy of respect and dignity. I think when there is a large event where we need to prove ourselves, we tend to learn from it and it becomes one of those "coming of age" stories.