Labels

I will never understand why some things are the way that they are. Why is high school such a cruel place? Its the place where people should get the chance to stand out, to be themselves, and to find who they truly are. Instead, we make high school the place to hide yourself, and pretend to be someone in order to be "popular". Life isn't a popularity contest. Buying the most expensive jeans and the newest boots isn't going to get you anywhere in life. Knowing who you are, that will take you beyond your wildest dreams.

People these days are afraid. No one wants to stand out, no one wants to be different. But why? What bad will it do to be yourself? Well that's an easy question. If you're yourself, you get judged. You are judged by everyone for being different, for standing out, and for doing what you want to do. If you don't wear the right clothes, you get laughed at. If you don't act a certain way, people think you're weird. If you don't like to eat lunch in the cafeteria, you are automatically labeled. High school is a dog-eat-dog world. We label each other because we are insecure about ourselves.

You like theater, you're a theater nerd. You're in leadership, you're popular. You're a cheerleader, you're a mean girl. You like math, you're a nerd. LABELS. They are all just labels. Yet we let them define us. And we allow ourselves to use them to define others. I'm far from perfect, and I'll be the first to admit it. Yet no one stands up to these labels because they don't want to be labeled as something different. (And they all probably like where their nose is in relation to their faces as well). That is the problem right there, no one is willing to stand up and say, "Yeah, I may be different, but at least I'm me, and I like that".

We put each other into cliques, and people stick to their cliques because they know it's safe. LIVE A LITTLE, PEOPLE! Everyone is saying "lets mix it up at lunch, lets all get along, everyone can be friends" and in a perfect world, I'm sure it would be possible. But this isn't a perfect world, and as much as we'd like to believe it will happen, lets be honest with ourselves. It will never happen. No one is willing to dive into something new, or even dip their toes in to test it out. Make a ripple in the pool of High School and all hell breaks loose. Best friends soon become enemies, and the hierarchy of high school crumbles before our eyes.

I hope to making a ripple. But a positive one. I'm willing to be myself, to show my true colors, and to put everything out there. If you want to judge me, then by all means, judge away. But let me know how all that judging is working out for you later on in life. I'll be laughing all the way to the bank. (That way, I can cash my check and go buy all the expensive clothes I should have had in high school.)