When you were young did you ever think about who you were hanging out with? Or what talking to them would do to your reputation? Or what labels people might've been placing on your forehead as you walked from place to place? Did you think about how nice (or not) your shoes were? How your shirt or pants hung unflatteringly on your either too fat or too skinny body? I personally never thought about these things. I don't even know if it crossed my mind what the gender was of the kid I was playing with at the time.
This is one thing about Junior High that I can't understand why it goes on. You go to school on the first day of 7th grade and after about the first few weeks you are branded with a label that hardly ever changes throughout the next few years. You could be a 'nerd', 'jock', 'popular', 'band geek', 'choir geek', or even one of the 'untouchables'. It all depends on who your friends are, what you wear, what you like to do, stuff like that. And I'm not proud of it, but I do it too. I label. I remember the first day of school there was this cute boy in a bunch of my classes and I TOTALLY thought he was a popular kid... until I saw his shoes. That's how I knew he wasn't popular, because of the shoes he wore! Crazy, right?
I also hate this system because (unless you're working on a project together) you don't talk or associate with people of a different 'class'. Us lower down folk are practically invisible to the popular kids as we wander down the halls between classes. And there's some kids who are less than invisible... they are bullied to their faces! These kids are looked on as something to joke about, creeps who don't contribute anything worthwhile to society. I'm not proud to say I've made a few jokes about these people at some point, but I'm trying to do better. I just wish we could all get along, and look for the best in people, regardless of their status in Junior High school society.
Well, that's my rant for the day! Enjoy!
5 comments:
I think you've just verbalized well the reason why so many people struggle so much in junior high and high school. That's the easy part, my friend. So what's the solution? True nobility lies not in seeing the problem, but in bringing to pass the solution (even for only one).
You have great thoughts! I love you!
To me it seemed like much of this went away when entering high school. I hope it is still like this. Thanks for sharing your thoughts Marissa.
P.S. I like your music playlist
This is so true!
Perhaps we should do as Shakespeare suggested, "Be great in act, as you have been in thought."
Perhaps my favorite blog post I've read in a while!
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