The Important Things in Life

It seems like lately I've been noticing that all the people around me are getting confused. I understand how it's easy to become blinded by things in life. Money is tight, and things are getting difficult for the majority of people. I understand this first hand, given that my family has always struggled and now I really see it while I'm trying to scrape money together to get an apartment. As if it's not hard enough to pull money together, jobs are being threatened or just impossible to come by. Just the other day, my boss told me she's considering other options for the girls that I watch every day. A job that seemed so sure to me is now rocky and unsure. Add that to my list of money concerns, life. I understand the struggle and the desire and how it becomes so desperate that any job seems promising. I also understand that I am in high school, and to some people, fitting in is the most important thing. Maybe it is important to feel accepted. Actually, it's very important to feel accepted. Psychologically, feeling accepted and loved and included can make the biggest differences for all aspects of a person's health. Everyone has these needs. The need for survival, the need for acceptance. They are our instincts. And without even realizing it, we all go after those instincts. But here's where it becomes not okay; when the things that make you who YOU are are being thrown under a bus. Since when did it become necessary to lie in order to obtain your needs? Especially about the little things that no one gives a rat's ass about. Who cares if you actually did nothing this weekend, and that story about how many friends you hung out with isn't actually real? Who cares if you're still a virgin or if you've never done drugs? And you know what's especially important is who cares if that OTHER girl actually did do something embarrassing at a party? All these things are minuscule. Obsolete. Yet almost everyone I know feels the need to do it. Lying has become a part of everyday life, in almost every where. From lying about why you "can't" go out to coffee with someone, to lying about why you went home to your wife at 3 am. This is why our society as a whole is losing it's identity. I'd like you to find a teenager, or even a middle aged person, who isn't confused in some way about who they are or what they believe. How can they be sure when they lie about what they had for breakfast? It's pretty easy to be confused about yourself when you're not able to own up about it to anyone. And this inability to own up to things has become such an issue that it's hardly even seen as an issue. Why do you think people have affairs so much or cheat? All it takes is a few lies and you're in the clear for the time being, until you get caught. This is why so many marriages end with infidelity. Lying has become second nature. Some people even view it as a necessity. Well, it's pretty easy to see lying as a good thing until you're on the receiving end of it. The true heroes in our society and the ones to look up to don't have to be saving people out of wells or fires. No, the people with real courage are the ones that are true to themselves and true to everyone around them. The ones who don't lie and cover up. Whether it's lying about where you are, who you are, or even something as simple as your natural hair color, it's makes you a little less of yourself and a little more of something else.