Post by annaxanonymous on Sept 14, 2008 21:14:37 GMT -5
People say being popualr is the most important thing in the world. Is it really? Looking back on what fabricates the very existence of popularity, observing what it takes. In most cases, popularity means being at the top of the food chain, feeding on the weak and helpless. “Popular kids didn’t really have friends. They had alliances. You were safe only as long as you hid your trust. At any moment someone might make you the laughing stock, because then they knew no one was laughing at them.”That is an exerpt from Nineteen minutes and I support it 110%. I have personal experience to back my theory up. In 5th grade, this kid started making fun of me. He was known as the “class clown” but also the “jock”. I was made fun of a lot on a regular basis, but I couldn’t take it. I stood up and told him to back off. Next thing you know he”s threatening me and I was threatening him. He got suspended and I wasn’t even punished, I was the straight A, spelling bee winner and he got in a new fight every week. It didn’t take much to know who started it. Anyway after a week everyone was being nice to me, even the kid! They would chat with me, talk to me about shows they watched, so on and so forth. It didn’t take long for them to start seeing the weak side in me. Since I became close to them, they saw I was definitely not the girl they thought I was, so I was picked on ten fold. Not only for my enthusiasm in school, but now for my weight, my hair, my clothes, and even my interests. I must say, though, being ontop of the world even for those brief few days, I enjoyed it more than anything. I wasn’t singled out as I used to be, and I always had a crowd to talk to. Speaking from the inside and outside perspective, I have to say, being in was all I cared about after that. Embarrasingly enough, I bought books on how to be popular, I read magazines, I even wished for it. After 8th grade though, I saw that being popular wasn’t as important as being yourself, having TRUE friends, living YOUR life, and having fun YOUR way.
There is a difference between being popular and belonging to the group. You could just be a groupie or the best friend of the cheerleader, or the yappy follower of the star quarterback. You could even be the girl dating the runningback. Following the popular kids won’t get you intantly popular. It’s not like tinkerbelle will just appear and sprinkle you with popular dust. You have to show them that you aren’t just some C-average kid, or some girl who dresses like Ashlee Simpson. They expect you to break the mold. Also, belonging to that group doesn’t really require that much effort, all you have to do is know evewryone’s name and talk to them. Being popular is a full time job. You have to know every rumor, every piece of gossip before it even hits the hallways. You need to be wanted by every guy(and even some girls). You need to keep a flawless image but also be known to party. You need to do all this and keep a size 0 waistline. There can’t be popular kids without the unpopular kids. Being popular is all about being seperated from the rest of the school. Being popular is showing that you are better than “everyone else”, but what’s the point of being popular when there is no “everyone else”. There’s always going to be that one section of the schoo who everyone wants to be, who everyone would die to hang out with, for them to even recognize your existence. But we still have to remember, the only reason they exist is because we exist, the normal people. The ones who don’t have girls/guys calling us every 5 seconds to hang out, the ones who go to bed at 9 or 10 on the weekdays because we aren’t allowed to stay up on school nights, the ones who haven’t even heard of rainbow parties, or fishbowl parties. The only reason their lives are so glamorous is because ours is so normal. But if we were in their shoes, most of us wouldn’t be able to take the kind of pressure and pain they have to face. Their life is just walking on eggshells. I would probably never want to be in that position because I can barely balance my job and school, luckily my friends don’t have an issue with me spending less time with them, but popularity is all about having fun and hanging out. I honestly don’t have time for that anymore and just trying to balance that gives me shivers. It just goes to show not everyone can be popular, not everyone was made to be popular, it’s a wonder there are people who can handle being popular.
There is a difference between being popular and belonging to the group. You could just be a groupie or the best friend of the cheerleader, or the yappy follower of the star quarterback. You could even be the girl dating the runningback. Following the popular kids won’t get you intantly popular. It’s not like tinkerbelle will just appear and sprinkle you with popular dust. You have to show them that you aren’t just some C-average kid, or some girl who dresses like Ashlee Simpson. They expect you to break the mold. Also, belonging to that group doesn’t really require that much effort, all you have to do is know evewryone’s name and talk to them. Being popular is a full time job. You have to know every rumor, every piece of gossip before it even hits the hallways. You need to be wanted by every guy(and even some girls). You need to keep a flawless image but also be known to party. You need to do all this and keep a size 0 waistline. There can’t be popular kids without the unpopular kids. Being popular is all about being seperated from the rest of the school. Being popular is showing that you are better than “everyone else”, but what’s the point of being popular when there is no “everyone else”. There’s always going to be that one section of the schoo who everyone wants to be, who everyone would die to hang out with, for them to even recognize your existence. But we still have to remember, the only reason they exist is because we exist, the normal people. The ones who don’t have girls/guys calling us every 5 seconds to hang out, the ones who go to bed at 9 or 10 on the weekdays because we aren’t allowed to stay up on school nights, the ones who haven’t even heard of rainbow parties, or fishbowl parties. The only reason their lives are so glamorous is because ours is so normal. But if we were in their shoes, most of us wouldn’t be able to take the kind of pressure and pain they have to face. Their life is just walking on eggshells. I would probably never want to be in that position because I can barely balance my job and school, luckily my friends don’t have an issue with me spending less time with them, but popularity is all about having fun and hanging out. I honestly don’t have time for that anymore and just trying to balance that gives me shivers. It just goes to show not everyone can be popular, not everyone was made to be popular, it’s a wonder there are people who can handle being popular.
