As a pubescent individual, I was, and I assume most others were/are, aware that barring acne, horrible fashion decisions, general physical awkwardness and Steve Julius' unobtainable perfection, in-crowds were the worst thing puberty had to offer.
They were impenetrable, seemingly generated out of the beige walls of the middle school itself, fully formed before you even realized you were on the outside of one.
Trying to break in was a certain path to continued loserdom, coupled with disdain, trying to form your own crowd was only satisfying if you could blind yourself to the fact that the REAL in-crowd was laughing at you, and rating you distinctly "second-tier," and pretending you didn't care at all, or actually being completely oblivious...well, ignorance may be bliss, but socially, you may as well have been a horseshoe crab.
The thought most of us (i.e. those of us not "in" the in-crowd) consoled ourselves with was that this, too, would pass. In the words of my mother, "those kids hit their peak in high school - do you really want to look back and have peaked in high school?"
No, I don't!
But what mom didn't tell me was that, while those kids may hit the apex of their actual power in high school, while that may be the time when snottiness and a face that, at the selection committee held in 4th grade, showed promise, actually has any real-world value, THEY don't think that high school is the end of their social lording.
In fact, they recreate the "in-crowd" up until the day we all die.
The benefit of adulthood is that not being part of some self-proclaimed "cool kids" circle actually stops mattering to you. But having to encounter people who believe this thing still exists, and, however briefly, finding yourself playing on their terms?
Well there's a reason that they always try to convince you all the worst parts of puberty will PASS.
-Posted by Jilly
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment