This is a rant about high school, feel free to read or ignore, and pardon my French.
Some days I sit around with friends and laugh so hard that I get sad thinking about when high school will be over. Other days I sit and look around me and see a bunch of really young, immature boys and girls and I want to scream “get me out of here!” It’s a pretty even balance usually. Recently it’s been more of the latter category. All the social instability, and the social climbing, and the gossip, and the clothes, and superficiality, and all that cheap shit. I mean it’s sickening. I see people who came from feeder schools and have been hanging out with the same 3-4 people their whole life (I guess the notion of “branching out” is a dead one). I see people whose only concern in the world is what’s happening the next Friday night. I respect the people who can acknowledge that they have an alcohol or drug problem, but I can’t stand it when they don’t seek help. It’s maddening to see parents be so overprotective that they change their child to be a meek, closed person instead of an assertive, risk-taking one. I’m sick of hearing stories about the latest MTV show. I’m sick of having to hug someone each and every time I see them – can’t we just look each other in the eye and start talking instead of acknowledging our intense happiness to see each other through a hug or “ghetto” handshake? Finally, I’m sick of people whining about their grades and being ultra-competitive with their own friends about these artificial indicators of achievement. Thank God my life isn’t all about high school, as it’s this fact which keeps me as happy and curious as I am!
it’s funny how little it all matters too. i graduated in ’95 and high school seems very distant and not that relevant. i did recently find out that i went to high school with a guy i met and set up with a blog… that was weird.
Ben I very much agree with you on this matter. I have made some incredible friends in my shortlived high school career, most of whom were unexpected. I did tend to stick with the familiar faces at the beginning, but it was my desire to branch out and meet other people that produced some of my best friends. I think the bottom line however, is that superifciality among all of the other things you mention are going to be a part of high school life. I think we’re better off accepting things as they are and just trying to limit the amount of conforming we do. I know this sounds sort of pessimistic but it’s harsh reality.
This is just another argument for why you should pride yourself on having a very diverse group of friends. Gotta broaden those horizons!