Finding Your Identity Hurts...All of Us

Bullying is not a recent phenomenon; it has been around for ages--ask Mussolini. Far too often we witness horrible acts due to bullying such as school shootings and suicides, especially among teenagers. Although bullying is coherently the problem, indirectly it’s all our fault. The problem is that we try too hard finding our identity--trying to find a place somewhere and some of us get left out. For instance, in High School, we try very hard to fall into a category [not necessarily intentional] and we end up as jocks, preps, sluts, rednecks, nerds, and etc. Actually, no; it’s much deeper than that. We end up as guys that play football, guys that pretend to be athletic and play lacrosse, nerds that learn C++ and nerds that play Magic in the library, girls that have tattoos, girls that smoke, and girls that have tattoos and smoke. This list is only partial. [The list I compiled here is as partial as the stars in our galaxy compared to all the stars in the universe.] 

Okay, that may be an exaggeration. But, it’s close enough.

Whatever forces that are working in our lives, are compelling us to join “sects” as a way to define ourselves. However, that is also limiting us mentally, emotionally, intellectually, and physically. We refuse anything/anyone that refutes our defining selves which leads to shunning. Let’s say someone at work or school wore a turtleneck everyday with white chinos. Most people would probably avoid that person because of their appearance alone. 

I used to try to find a place in high school like most kids. 

I gave that up when I got to college. [Inadvertently]

I don’t try to adopt an image. I don’t care to appease tendencies based off of factors, whether societal or cultural. I do what I like/want to do because I like/want to do it. In College, I followed the NBA religiously [I could give you the names of every player and where they play] and played Dungeons and Dragons [yes, the role-playing game] and Sopio [If you don’t know what Sopio is, I proved my point]

Want more? I’ll show you. These are a few of my interests:

My Yankee Candles

My Jordans

Some of my Books

Some of my Video games

A map of Skyrim on my wall

A poster of cars on my wall

My WVU football jersey (I went to Pitt)

My Bath and Body Works hand soap

Sadly, our shape is induced by external forces and a lot of today’s problems come from that [i.e.; drunk driving]. But, I'm not saying to be different because that is another category. Rejecting the expected may be a more proper thesis, here.

If you reject what is expected of you, people may begin to think you are strange. 
But, who cares?