On Popularity.
I watched an interesting episode on Tyra Banks this morning. I can't tell you how much it got me thinking. There were these three girls, Sandra, 17, Jessica, 18 and Erica, 14, who so desperately want to be the "popular kids in high school". The common denominator among them were two things: "If I become popular, I'd be the happiest girl in the world." and "I want to be like Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie."
Poor things.
So here's what they did, the producers of the show planned a fake hollywood party somewhere in LA just to give them a taste of what popularity feels like. They hired party goers and three actresses who played the role of the "it" girls. They had fake alcoholic drinks around and even fake drugs. The girls had no idea that there were cameras all around the hired residence and that everything was a set up. Here, they were tested on how far they will go to get that popularity they've always wanted.
So there, peer pressure comes and the three hired actresses did a makeover for the girls, (with the help from the show's stylist, who pretended to be the girls' friend), got them to wear skimpy clothes and did their hair and make up. When they were done it was time for mission number one, find out if the girls would give in to alcohol. Fake alcohol, that is.
Two of them did. Sandra and Jessica. Erica, the youngest of them all, refused. After that, it was on mission number two. Peer pressured to hook up. All three of them danced like crazy, each with a certain guy. Jessica gave her number to one after the party. The others merely danced. Then the final test came: peer pressured to do drugs. Again, Sandra and Jessica gave in. Erica, again, didn't.
They watched it along with their parents on the show, and one of them, Sandra, broke down as her mother told her this:
"You're becoming a follower. Not a leader."
I used to be that. One of the popular kids in high school. People greeting you everytime you turn around, your name in every issue of the school paper, being onstage at every event, people coming up to you every now and then and tell you how you became an inspiration to them, etcetera. But no, i wasn't the drug/drinking/smoking kind of person. Hardwork got me there. Confidence got me there. Built-in high. No, i'm not bragging. My point is, you don't need to succumb to bad peer pressure in order to have fun. You don't need popularity in order to live free. Popularity leads to a lot of expectation, and eventually leading to changing for the worst. No, there is the good poularity. Being an inspiration. Just being yourself ang being happy with what you are. And when people accept you for being who you are, you are receiving something genuine. But if you start being someone else, conforming to what they want, all you are receiving is something that they want, but it just isn't you. And if they love you for being someone else, they love that someone else, not you.
Popularity for being someone else is not popularity at all. It's just a world where people love the different person you have created out of what others think. It's not you. So if you really look at it, you are still not popular. Who is popular? That fictional character the others created out of you.
The best kind of popularity is being loved for who you are. The easiest thing in the world is to be yourself. Just live free. And if you are loved for who you are, it gives a greater feeling than having all those people pour over someone you are not.
Hey, this even works in products. Sure, the fake ones are so easy to get. But the ones which are more popular are those which are genuine. Not so easy to get. But they are the ones who usually last longer. Sure, the fake ones are affordable. The genuine stuff are almost priceless. Wonder why?
The fake ones hold less VALUE than the genuine ones.
Be someone else, you'll be affordable. They can easily buy you.
Be yourself, you'll be priceless. You'll be worth a lot.
