Stepping Down

Many times I look over my younger days. I remember the people of the community using me as a model as to how children and my peers should carry themselves. I was told how well-mannered I was, and how I would go far in the world because I knew how to respect elders. All this hype drew negative vibes from my friends and associates. It was much deserved in most cases.

The praise was much enjoyed, but I many times I felt it was used to belittle others more than to uplift me. In the end everyone was hurt because I ended up disliked. It was never to the point that ill will was brought on me, but it's difficult to develop healthy friendships when one person is thought to be superior to another.

I learned that many never tried to overcome the stigma. They would accept the inferior status and seek to lower those that were said to be so much better. It is a sad fact of life. A person will take the easy way out and accept the stereotype or label given to him or her all while discrediting those that try to do better. A common simile would be crabs in a bucket; as soon as one gets a chance to rise above the rest, the remaining crabs pulls it back in.

To be bothered by the person or persons that would not shake the negative labels was a problem for a while. I soon learned that it didn't matter how someone feels, I have the upper hand. I had nothing to prove. By the time I accepted this, I had been slacking in school work and almost anything else in which I was involved. I was learning first hand that many label wearers that criticized me were really capable of doing better they were just too lazy or whatever to try otherwise. With that knowledge I knew it was time to cut the deadweight and move on.

Some years later, I am knocking on 30. I see the same people that never put forth the effort to do something with themselves from time to time. There is one attention getting factor almost every single time; I see someone my age trying to keep current with the latest fads. I'll see a 27 year old man wearing oversized clothing; drapped in flashy, fake jewelry; blasting music in the parking lot. Sometimes it's a 26 year old woman showing off the figure she used to have; talking about how there are no good men; telling me that I'm making "big money" now. I look at them and say, "I can't hate. Do you." I know those two examples were extreme but somewhere between those two and a hard working ambitious individual lies the label wearers.

One thing about life is that it going to go on. There are those in their early twenties that see the same thing I see and laugh. Not to worry, they will get old one day, and the fads of their time will die. Instead of maturing, these label wearers revert to the world of the young adults for whatever reason, usually fear of accepting that it is time grow up. There is no future in being a high school celebrity. Funny thing is that if I said that to a high schooler, they still wouldn't understand. I heard when I was younger. Life goes on.

The killer part, if I was to hold a conversation with the average label wearer and happen to mention that I was looking to read a book by Huey P. Newton; that person would probably not know of whom I was speaking. If I wear a polo, slacks, and casual shoes (Clarks), I would probably be asked why am I dressed up. It's a waste of money to send a child to a pricey educational institute, but a great investment to drop cash on some new rims and speakers (I actually overheard this discussion once). People let's get serious.

I went all around to say this simple statement: Knowledge, as trivial as it may be, is always good. Your day in the limelight will soon end. At that time, take a graceful bow and fade to the back. There's nothing pleasing in seeing someone trying to grasp the spotlight when that person is no longer the star. Let life stay fresh and quit recycling molded bread by cutting off the mold.