Everyone wants to be in the “it” group and be popular. No one wants to be the odd one out, so going with the crowd and the popular kids was something you would just have to get used to at my school. I went to a grade school that was very small and there were only fifteen people in my class with only six being girls. This meant that you wanted to be friends with all the girls and try and fit in as much as possible. There were two girls in my class that I would call “the leaders of the pack.” They were the girls that everyone wanted to be friends with. They were the “pretty girls” and I used to think they had it all. Even the boys in our class liked them. I wanted to be their friends so badly that I did some things that I think are silly today.
In the second grade, the popular girls always wore the coolest clothes. They would set the fashion for the rest of the girls in class. I remember there was one particular day at recess where I noticed a popular girl’s shoes. We were playing jump rope so my attention went directly to her shoes. She was wearing these black, almost platform heels that had a cute little buckle to top off the cool new shoes. I loved them immediately and wanted to have them because a popular girl had them. I went home that night and told my mom about them. I was so excited to get these new shoes, but unfortunately for me, my mom said no. It was like my dreams were shattered. I was so angry that I couldn’t get these new shoes. My mom thought it was absurd to get new shoes just because someone else had them.
The next day I was still bummed about not getting the shoes, but I would soon get over it. I arrived at school the next day to find that two other girls in my class had got the same shoes. Now I really had to have these shoes. The girls in my class now classified that if you didn’t have these shoes then you could be a part of their new club they were starting. Everyone went out and got these new shoes. I was so crushed to hear this because I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get those shoes. I had to do something to change my mom’s mind. When I got home I did all my chores and then some so my mom would take me to the mall to get these shoes. She was still against the idea, but she said that if I paid for them with my own money then I could get them. At this age I really didn’t get much money from my parents, so I was going to have to use some money from Christmas and birthdays. I worked so hard to earn enough money for those shoes. It was months before I was able to get the shoes. By the time I got them everyone else was on to the next fashion. I was so disappointed, but I was just going to have to live with the clothes I was given. It was just too much work to pay for my own shoes again. I was still teased about not being in this “club” of theirs.
Now that I’m older and much more mature, I look back on that memory and I think I was silly to think I needed a certain shoe to fit in. When I get together with my old friends from grade school we always go back to that story and we can’t help but laugh. It’s a funny story to tell now, but at the time it wasn’t a joke. From my experiences it isn’t fun to be left out and be the one who is different from everyone else. Kids and teens today now crave to be different from everyone. I wouldn’t take back anything that I did during my life even though I feel a little foolish for doing things to make others like me. I think I learned a valuable lesson that it’s okay to be different and that you should always just be yourself.
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