Jessica Gero
This is Just Me.
I believe in people being who they want to be. In this
day and age it seems that people are just way too quick to force their
beliefs and standards on another person. From the minute someone is
born they’re taught to be someone else. People are never taught to
explore ones own being, to see what fits them, and that is probably
why trying to pick a college that fits you is so hard. Being a
seventeen year old having just gone through the college selection
process I saw how difficult it was to pick a college that worked for
my standards, not for everyone else’s standards. I have been told
time and time again that living at home is pathetic for college, you
must go far away, and regular colleges aren’t worth your time, strive
for the ivy leagues. To be completely honest those don’t sound like
my standards, those sound like everyone else’s. I believe they work
for other people, but having just made my decision to go to Western
New England College and live at home just sealed my fate as an
“abnormal” college student.
What is it to be abnormal? Where is this golden set of
rules that states what is normal and what is not. If I could get my
hands on these rules I would simply burn them, because they are
idealistic and unrealistic. I wonder who gets to pick the ultimate
standards for how a person should act. What makes certain things
socially acceptable and other things not, and what makes us care about
what other people think. That is where I break off from the norm. I
have learned in my short seventeen years of life that it creates more
fun to just be you. To laugh, sing, dance, talk, skip, and do
whatever you however you want to do it.
Recently I went on a trip with my schools and to
Washington D.C. On this trip we were told to act like adults, which
was cool. But some of the chaperones took it to the next level, we
were told to not play with toys because we were adults and had to act
as so, but when I purchased a big pink playground ball and it got
taken away from us playing, acting like kids, I realized that I was
far from an adult. When we finally received the ball back it was like
a kindergarten class had received it, fifty band kids played kickball,
tag, four square, whatever our little hearts desired, while the real
adults watched on in disgust. It would have been nice for them to
realize at that point that we did not accept their standard of how
fifteen to eighteen year olds should be and we wanted to be ourselves.
Laugh. Live. Breathe. Dance. Snort. Jump. Skip. Flip. Fly.
Overall just be yourself. Learn to spread your wings and be the person
you want to be. It doesn’t matter if that person likes to dance
around like an idiot and make noises that are questionable to man, all
that matters is if that person is happy. No one is happy when they’re
being told how to essentially be, so why do others feel the need to
force it upon them? With me being someone who doesn’t care what
people think and does my own thing, I can tell you that it’s the best
thing you can ever do for yourself and the grass is in fact greener on
the other side.