Well, since my car's battery died again (how do city residents deal w/keeping their cars in working order???) & I have to wait to get it jumped off, I have some time on my hands to rant. I've never been a fan of political correctness but just read this today & I have to comment.
Yes, you read right. High schools are now trying to include EVERYONE in their yearbooks multiple times. Sounds like some warm, fuzzy thing right? Because everyone deserves to be in the freaking yearbook!!!
I did a fair amount of activities in high school & did know people on the yearbook. I wouldn't call them close friends but I was friendly enough with them. The girl in charge of the yearbook my senior year told me she had done the layout for a full page ad my parents had bought. I also saw a candid pic that I believe she took since she was a frequent visitor to the site where it was taken; it really sums up my experience that year. By high school, I'd stopped caring who did or didn't like me.
In my senior year, I was just ready to move away & go to college. My goal was to do any activity that struck my interest so I wouldn't have regrets later on. That's why I did stuff like run for Homecoming Queen and be on Academic Competition; if I got to be in the spotlight, I was in. At that point, I knew I wouldn't get booed off the stage since I was getting compliments. I ended up getting a 3rd row entry in my senior yearbook.
Regardless, though I would never have called myself "popular." Known, sure. Popular implied a sense of being liked and I never felt liked by most people. I still don't, in fact.
Overall, I think this is a horrid idea & great example of PC gone stupid.
First off, real life won't give you a trophy just for showing up. You have to get grades in college and law school. Certainly you have to face competition in medical school. Would you want a doctor who only got licensed because of PC bullshit? I certainly wouldn't want that person operating on me or prescribing medication to me. Keep up stuff like this & that's exactly what society will get.
Second, what if you don't want to be in the yearbook? Some people could care less. I didn't really care all that much myself but figured it was one of those things I'd have to deal with as part of doing so many activities.
One comment I read on this story said real life was the same as high school: that who you know is how you get ahead instead of what you know. I think it's more of a combination than one or the other. Some people just elicit respect from others by being who they are, even if you hate their guts. I think I'm one of those since many have told me they admire me for taking stands and being genuine instead of putting on a front for people.
Third, the bullshit of high school doesn't mean a thing afterward. I personally think that if you had to face some adversity, you end up doing a lot better later on than the football star or the head cheerleader. Reality already hit you so you can cope with the hard times & adjusting to the real world. If you were always popular & things came easy to you, then it's going to be a hundred times more difficult. How many times does someone who was tormented in their youth become great & how many football heroes become Al Bundy in their adult lives? In real life, I've seen it a lot.
Getting grades works the same way. I think failure & struggles build character. As long as someone's around to say directly to a victimized person "Don't worry about this bullshit; it will get better," you'll see fewer retaliation measures against people.
If you're reading this & considering your own deadly shooting spree, let me tell you it's much more gratifying to get to tell someone to kiss your ass years later after you've lived out your passion while they live in the past. The lesson on not being nasty to people for no reason comes to life here. People may even grow up & apologize to you later on; that's also gratifying since that's fewer weights on your psyche.
Not to mention maybe you'd get a chance to do what Katy Perry did & make someone look foolish in front of the entire world.
Let me repeat: high school won't mark you for life. Now maybe if you took nudie pics or did something stupid that was posted online, you're going to have more to deal with but enough distance in time and location from those bringing you down & you'll be okay. Going to a major city and meeting different people made a world of difference in my own life.
Find your passion and a place where you fit since life's way too short to trudge around in self-misery.
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