Lesson in living - Essay Example

In most instances, these derisions occurred in private as many of these individuals in my peer network did not have the legitimate self-confidence to be more expressive and bold with their negative commentaries. It was common, when an unpopular student wearing last year’s fashion trends walked by, to snicker and scorn in an environment where this type of behavior was applauded. I have to admit, more than once, I found personal satisfaction in these mockeries. One particular student, I will call him “David”, was obviously from a home environment that did not have much financial wealth.

David would often wear the same clothing more than once during the school week, which was a significant fashion faux pas in my social network. Moreover, David did not appear to be very intelligent, as during many in-class discussions and examinations, David was not very articulate and often seemed to struggle with the simplest curriculum concepts. It was common practice for my popular friends to sneer and disparage David whenever his perceived intelligence problems were illustrated to the rest of the class.

Admittedly, I found these situations quite amusing, a product of my immaturity and high need for social inclusion. One day, during lunch period, our popular table saw David walking by, carrying a sack lunch, which was a significant error for those who could afford higher quality lunches from the diverse cafeteria bakery and vending machines. Deciding to take the lead on the next contempt and disrespect for David, I offered, much more loudly than I had anticipated, “Here comes our favorite crash test dummy.

” David stopped dead in his tracks, having overheard what I just said, a look of confusion and annoyance on his face. Immediately, the group of popular students started laughing, clearly amused that David had overhead my malicious comments. In addition, one popular student spit out a mouthful of milk, illustrating the depth to which he found this situation filled with hilarity at David’s expense. David, seeming neither amused nor infuriated, replied with a single word: “Thanks”, and simply walked to his table to enjoy his bag lunch.

Granted, I was only bothered that I had been overhead with my derogatory comment and felt no empathy for David’s position. Approximately one month after this incident, our social studies teacher assigned an in-class activity where our task was to evaluate three specific students in the class using a stereotype, a cultural artifact, and a cultural term from a list to describe why the chosen student fit these terms. Much to my dismay, I had been chosen by several students for spotlight which highlighted my fashion prowess related to the concept of the cultural artifact.

Essentially, the implication was that my fashion sense was a throwback from previous decades which, for the first time, put me in a position of public dishonor. Following this further, according to another student, my choice of clothing “came directly from a vintage resale clothing rack.” Of course, my popular friends found this considerably amusing and I understood, at that moment, the complex feelings of embarrassment and awkwardness when being a target of degradation. When it was David’s turn to present, he firmly (and articulately) offered to the