Be yourself

An anonymous person once said, “There is only one you for all time.  Fearlessly be yourself.”  What this person is saying is that everyone is unique to this world and that they should withhold from the main stream and forge their own path.  It is easy to follow the crowd even when the person knows in his heart that it is wrong.  What takes immense courage is to be the one that stands up to the crowd.  People are not nice.  We are constantly being criticized everywhere we go.  Whether it is just a walk in the park or strolling through the aisles at the grocery store, people are still going to look at us.

Some people are even afraid to be themselves.  I find this very shameful.  It is like they are ashamed of themselves and think they are not good enough for this world so they act like other people they assume are normal when there is really no such thing as a normal person.  Everyone is unique and no two people are alike, personality-wise.  But some people are really afraid to show themselves because they think that no one will accept them.  They fear being rejected.  Since the beginning of mankind, humans have lived together in packs.  I would say this group mentality is bred into our genes.  They could not survive on their own and that is what the individuals of today fear.  They want to feel human and the only way they can do that is to be in a group.

Another thing people fear is the harsh criticism sometimes received for not following the group.  Like a pack of wolves, if the group is not pleased with someone, they all harass that person and treat them unfairly.  People do not want to get hurt.  It is in their nature to avoid harm and ridicule.  People should not be afraid to be themselves.  In fact, they should be admired for having the guts to be themselves.  The majority conforms to this group mentality but it is the ones who stand out in a crowd that should be noticed.  They are the people that get into college, they are ones that get the good jobs, and they are the ones that make the difference in this world of constant conflict.  In the end, the majority depends on the individuals.

How to Predict the Future

Alan Kay once said, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”  I agree that people need to get active and work diligently to get the future they want.  In order to get a good future, one cannot just sit on a couch all day growing roots.  People need to understand that by working hard they have a better chance of getting a good job.  Competition for colleges and jobs is on the rise in California.  People need to get active.

We couldn’t predict our future if we just sat around and let it choose its own path.  Some people like surprises but by doing nothing, their chances of running into an opportunity are very slim.  It grieves me to see today’s youth squandering all of the opportunities they are given.  I have met some very lazy teenagers in my past years as a high school student.  For one of them I had to persistently encourage him to go to school.  He wanted to be a cop.  So everyday he felt like being idle I would remind him of his dream and encourage him to keep working hard.  He doesn’t have much of a chance but he should still try.  A person should never give up on their future.

 Think of our opportunities as guides.  They guide us to the right path to the future we want or the future we were destined for.  If I were to be a pharmacist, I would sign up for as much science (preferably chemistry) classes as I could.  If I were to be a nurse, I would volunteer for the medical program at my school and I would take a class in anatomy and AP biology.  If I want a specific job in the future I would study or work in classes specifically for that job. But I would also have to keep in mind that I might not get that job so I also have to have an open mind about what I could be.  I have to be able to predict my future as Alan Kay said.

If Life Were Simplified

          Henry David Thoreau said, “ I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, … to drive life into a corner and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness out of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience...”  What he meant was that he wanted to isolate himself and simplify life to find what is really important, and if it were harsh or nasty, he would show the world how harsh it is, but if it were nice, he would want to experience it himself.  I agree that people do need to know what is most important in life, I just highly doubt that people would want to experience life without all the luxuries they have available.


          A lot of Americans spend any extra cash they have on new gadgets, trips, cars, etc. But are these items really worth the money or are they just cool toys to entertain ourselves with?  If People were stripped of all their goods, what would happen? Complete chaos. If life were simple, people would get bored, and being bored is not good for the mind.  Sure we see primitive villages and tribes with nothing but hunting and agriculture to keep them busy, but I honestly can’t see Americans dropping everything to go live on the land.  Maybe some would try this new way of life, but only a minority, not the majority.  


          If a simple life were sublime, then I would jump right into it.  My life is encumbered with multiple annoyances and stress due to modern devices. For instance, I love my phone, couldn’t live without it, but the stress it causes me is almost unbearable!  I have to text someone almost every minute, if I don’t, I feel weird.  I have become so attached to my phone it should just be fused into my body.  If life were simple and I didn’t have to worry about who is saying what or nonsense like that, I could finally be at peace.  I could sit back without having to check my phone every ten seconds.  A simple life can work for some people in certain ways, but not everyone is ready to adapt to this idea.

Imitation is Suicide

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Imitation is suicide.”  Through what I have seen, Teenagers have been imitating others for a long time but now that is starting to change.  Teens are becoming more unique and nonconformist, which is good, but sometimes it can be a bit ostentatious.  As a teenager, I have seen many bizarre fads come and go through my years in school.

Some people believe that being an individual means going completely against what is considered “normal”.  But in a way, they are imitating each other by being “different” in the same way.  Whether it is big gaudy glasses, half-shaved hair doo’s, or a mask of ghastly tattoo’s, it is not usually the best choice if one is currently trying to get a job or have a decent standing in society.  People should tone down their “flair” to a tolerable level.  As soon as teens become adults, life turns from one of childish fun and innocence to one of responsibility and money.

One point is that teens tend to imitate what they think is cool.  It sickens me to see the youth of today getting into the things they do.  Teenage boys like to imitate gang members thinking being “gangster” is cool.  First it’s just looks they imitate, then these supposed “gangsters” start to imitate how they act too.  This can be very dangerous.  Not only is it guys that are exhibiting bad behavior through imitation, girls are also affected by it.  I’ve noticed in the underclassmen, a lot of the girls are very sexually active.  In my opinion, when they got to high school, they felt like they needed to grow up fast in order to fit in.  Although having sex is an adult activity, it does not cause one to grow any more mature.  Girls should feel comfortable being themselves, even if that means being a virgin.

Imitation is suicide though, thinking of it in a literal sense.  By acting like another person, I wouldn’t be acting like myself.  And if I were to continue to ignore my real self, who I really am would begin to deteriorate and I would eventually lose sense of who I am.  People should follow their own dreams and not the dreams of others.  If they do that, they most likely will have a happy future doing what they love.  If there were no individuality, art would cease to exist, stories would be monotonous and boring, and generally life would be dull.