I have always heard that high school is a good time to find
your identity. However, similarly to Hester's situation, a high schooler does not simply find his or her own identity, but is instead branded with one. I’ve noticed that many
times, people are known more by an activity that they participate in or an event
that impacted their life than their name. Unfortunately, I am a hypocrite in
this case.
I don’t go to football games.
Maybe it’s because I’m scared of that mono-infested donkey head or whatever
animal it is, or maybe because I can’t see over anyone’s head in the student
section of the bleachers. I am possibly the most ignorant student in all of
Troy High when it comes to football; I can only faintly tell you how it works
and what its objective is. In a school of 1.4 thousand people, it is easy for
me to be completely unfamiliar with Troy High’s football and the people
involved in it, while still maintaining a (pitiful) social life. Someone could give
me name of a football player, and I’d just blink and stare back. However, if he
or she said “Number 99? Neon-pink-spandex-shorts-for-spirit-week dude?” I’d automatically
be able to envision the face of the person—forever pink spandex football dude
number 99 instead of his name, Austin Mahoney. There is so much more to Mr.
Mahoney that I will never know about, but he will never be able to escape the
identity that I hypothetically branded him with.
Maybe Mr. Mahoney will one
day go to college in Austria and create a new path for himself, but he must not
forget that high school is just a microcosm of the “real world”. Unless he
beats society to its own game, the cycle will repeat, and Mr. Mahoney will be
branded once again.
You do you, Austin Mahoney.
The point you bring up here is very true. People often base their impressions of others solely on one particular thing they do or have done, as with Hester Prynne. Although I must say that I am surely less knowledgeable about football than you are.
ReplyDeleteYour reasoning in this blog is very valid. This point of view is something that everyone can relate to. Although I feel like once you actually get to know someone their branded identity goes away. Oh! and I love your pictures!
ReplyDeleteIngrid,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree on your topic! I often dislike when people judge others solely on one action, but sometimes I have to admit that I am guilty of this.
This judgement based on the initial impression happens all too often. I agree that in high school especially, people are judged too much. But, by the same token, if someone only wants to judge me by their first impression, do I really care what they have to say to me?
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with this. It's so easy to judge other people based off of an initial impression even though it's completely wrong, especially in high school. The weird part is that even though we know it's wrong, we all still do it.
ReplyDeleteThis is very true in the hardships of finding yourself in high school. Though we may be branded before we can find our true identity, as a society we are becoming more and more accepting over time. Also, it's a deer head and it's infested with herpes simplex 1 (pucker up!).
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a very true point. Even though I try not to be judgmental, but my first impression of someone and what they do can be a lasting one. Donut worry; I have been to every home game because of marching band, yet I still don't understand football.
ReplyDelete