The Fame Of What Is Bad
As a freshman in high school conformity
was highly important. At the time I was unaware that I was conforming to peer
pressure, I was sure that I was just doing what I wanted to do. The music I
listened to, the clothes I chose to wear, those were
my
choices. Today, of course, I know that I was simply fitting in, being part of
the group, seeking
acceptance.
There were three couples in the crowd I ran with. We were all steadies. Jerry, Rick and I would not have been caught at school wearing anything but Levi's. The most important feature of the Levi's was the roll on the leg. It took a long time to roll each leg in a very tiny fold. You had to have your shirt collar turned up and never would we have forgotten to roll our short sleeves up-very carefully.
Another rage was polished cotton slacks. Particularly, black in color with a tiny belt at the center of the back. (What was that for?) And v-neck sweaters were quite popular.
Carolyn, Linda and Janet conformed with mid-calf skirts with lots of petty coats. Saddle oxfords and heavy white bobby socks completed their attire.
The six of us had a lot of fun together that year. If there wasn't an event to attend or a holiday in the month (January is a real drag), we created a special occasion so that we could have a party. Most of the parties took place at Janet's house--she was my steady girl. For these parties we had matching outfits. They boys wore their black polished slacks with white shirts under our red v-neck sweaters. The girls dressed identically with the exception of their black polished cotton skirts.
We conformed, but we said it was "our idea." We had a lot of fun. After our freshman year we went our separate ways. But in our junior year and again as senior we all went to the Prom together. We stayed until midnight our junior year. We had heard that a new restaurant in Joplin was open very late and was serving Italian food. Some in the group had heard that they had pizza. I did not even know what pizza was. Was it delicious that first time I had it! That mozzarella cheese was strange. I'd never tasted it before.
We left the prom early our senior year and went to the 66 Drive-In in Carthage. It was a cold night and the heater managed to fog the windows in the car. With six of us packed in my parent's 56 Mercury it soon became impossible to view the movie. It didn't matter, there was lost of joking and laughter. I believe we all understood that this was the last time we would be together. It was our final opportunity to recall that freshman year, the good times, the learning together. We would someday reflect on Elvis Presley and his memorable music, on Ricky Nelson and the innocence of his youth. The tragic direction that their lives would take and their deaths were unknown to us at that time.
Conformists? Yes we were. Why? We learn to conform in order to protect ourselves. To stand with your own opinion can be a frightening thing-downright dangerous at times. In a positive sense, we must conform in order to accomplish things for the good of all. There's nothing wrong in that. It is necessary. Therefore, peer pressure is good for it teaches us to become discerning individuals. It sharpens our skills in discrimination. We become better at evaluating situations. We lean to make decisions. So from a positive viewpoint peer pressure in high school should have a beneficial outcome.
For some, however, those who fail to see its benefits, it has negative consequences. They become sheep, they learn to simply follow the crowd. They become afraid to act on their own. They become afraid of having any opinion except that expressed by others. They have failed to understand that those things which we did like everyone else in high school, were not always the best things to do, that the other person does not always have the right opinion.
Recently while reading I came across a passage that reminded me of the importance of drawing conclusions from my experiences, of the importance of deciding what I should thing and do based upon my decisions-decisions made after I carefully discerned all the information. In Arthur Schopenhauer's second volume of The World as Will and Representation he writes:
Ordinary minds show, even in the smallest affairs, a want of confidence in their own judgment, just because they know from experience that it is of no use to them. With them prejudice and following the judgment of others take its place. In this way they are kept in a state of permanent nonage (immaturity), from which scarcely one in many hundreds is emancipated. Naturally this is not avowed, for even to themselves they seem to judge; yet all the time they are casting a furtive glance at the opinion of others, which remains their secret point of direction. While any of them would be ashamed to go about in a borrowed coat, hat , or cloak, none of them has anything but borrowed opinions which they eagerly scrape up wherever they can get possession of them; and then they proudly strut around with them, giving them out as their own. Others in turn borrow these opinions from them, and do just the same with them, and do just the same with them. This explains the rapid and wide dissemination of errors, as well as the fame of what is bad. For the professional purveyors of opinion, such as journalists and the like, as a rule give out only false goods, just as those who are hire out fancy dresses give only false jewelry.
As adults we must put aside our childish ways. We must evaluate the statements of others. We must become discerning individuals. We read in Paul's letters to the Corinthians: When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
To avoid being a part of the fame of what is bad, we must put away childish understanding, we must become discerning and seek truth. We must not be purveyors of borrowed opinions. As high school students there was a childish innocence in having borrowed opinions, but as adults there is a certain danger.
(written 1999)
There were three couples in the crowd I ran with. We were all steadies. Jerry, Rick and I would not have been caught at school wearing anything but Levi's. The most important feature of the Levi's was the roll on the leg. It took a long time to roll each leg in a very tiny fold. You had to have your shirt collar turned up and never would we have forgotten to roll our short sleeves up-very carefully.
Another rage was polished cotton slacks. Particularly, black in color with a tiny belt at the center of the back. (What was that for?) And v-neck sweaters were quite popular.
Carolyn, Linda and Janet conformed with mid-calf skirts with lots of petty coats. Saddle oxfords and heavy white bobby socks completed their attire.
The six of us had a lot of fun together that year. If there wasn't an event to attend or a holiday in the month (January is a real drag), we created a special occasion so that we could have a party. Most of the parties took place at Janet's house--she was my steady girl. For these parties we had matching outfits. They boys wore their black polished slacks with white shirts under our red v-neck sweaters. The girls dressed identically with the exception of their black polished cotton skirts.
We conformed, but we said it was "our idea." We had a lot of fun. After our freshman year we went our separate ways. But in our junior year and again as senior we all went to the Prom together. We stayed until midnight our junior year. We had heard that a new restaurant in Joplin was open very late and was serving Italian food. Some in the group had heard that they had pizza. I did not even know what pizza was. Was it delicious that first time I had it! That mozzarella cheese was strange. I'd never tasted it before.
We left the prom early our senior year and went to the 66 Drive-In in Carthage. It was a cold night and the heater managed to fog the windows in the car. With six of us packed in my parent's 56 Mercury it soon became impossible to view the movie. It didn't matter, there was lost of joking and laughter. I believe we all understood that this was the last time we would be together. It was our final opportunity to recall that freshman year, the good times, the learning together. We would someday reflect on Elvis Presley and his memorable music, on Ricky Nelson and the innocence of his youth. The tragic direction that their lives would take and their deaths were unknown to us at that time.
Conformists? Yes we were. Why? We learn to conform in order to protect ourselves. To stand with your own opinion can be a frightening thing-downright dangerous at times. In a positive sense, we must conform in order to accomplish things for the good of all. There's nothing wrong in that. It is necessary. Therefore, peer pressure is good for it teaches us to become discerning individuals. It sharpens our skills in discrimination. We become better at evaluating situations. We lean to make decisions. So from a positive viewpoint peer pressure in high school should have a beneficial outcome.
For some, however, those who fail to see its benefits, it has negative consequences. They become sheep, they learn to simply follow the crowd. They become afraid to act on their own. They become afraid of having any opinion except that expressed by others. They have failed to understand that those things which we did like everyone else in high school, were not always the best things to do, that the other person does not always have the right opinion.
Recently while reading I came across a passage that reminded me of the importance of drawing conclusions from my experiences, of the importance of deciding what I should thing and do based upon my decisions-decisions made after I carefully discerned all the information. In Arthur Schopenhauer's second volume of The World as Will and Representation he writes:
Ordinary minds show, even in the smallest affairs, a want of confidence in their own judgment, just because they know from experience that it is of no use to them. With them prejudice and following the judgment of others take its place. In this way they are kept in a state of permanent nonage (immaturity), from which scarcely one in many hundreds is emancipated. Naturally this is not avowed, for even to themselves they seem to judge; yet all the time they are casting a furtive glance at the opinion of others, which remains their secret point of direction. While any of them would be ashamed to go about in a borrowed coat, hat , or cloak, none of them has anything but borrowed opinions which they eagerly scrape up wherever they can get possession of them; and then they proudly strut around with them, giving them out as their own. Others in turn borrow these opinions from them, and do just the same with them, and do just the same with them. This explains the rapid and wide dissemination of errors, as well as the fame of what is bad. For the professional purveyors of opinion, such as journalists and the like, as a rule give out only false goods, just as those who are hire out fancy dresses give only false jewelry.
As adults we must put aside our childish ways. We must evaluate the statements of others. We must become discerning individuals. We read in Paul's letters to the Corinthians: When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
To avoid being a part of the fame of what is bad, we must put away childish understanding, we must become discerning and seek truth. We must not be purveyors of borrowed opinions. As high school students there was a childish innocence in having borrowed opinions, but as adults there is a certain danger.
(written 1999)
Posted: Fri - February 3, 2006 at 10:52 PM
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"Art arises from basic needs-a strong need to express and celebrate our everyday events.
In a museum most people spend less than twenty seconds looking at a work of art."
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Published On: Feb 03, 2006 10:53 PM
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Published On: Feb 03, 2006 10:53 PM