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“Do you drink? Here’s a can of beer. Help yourself.”
“No, thank you. I don’t drink.”
“Such a waste. A girl like looks cool when you drink.”
That’s a conversation between me and a man who I don’t even know who he is. It happened when I started my job on a cruise ship. While I was waiting in line to use a computer at the crew mess, a man come to me and offered unopened can of beer which I politely refuse.
That conversation didn’t bothered me until recently I read a post from a social media about a teenager who is struggling to fit into a group which she called “The Coolest Kids”. To fit in, she had to learn how to drink, smoke and change her look.
During my time in school, I don’t really belong to the “coolest kids”. In fact, I prefer not to be in any groups and yet I am still known by others schoolmates (I don’t consider myself popular at school). All I did was, make friends despite our class hierarchy. Yes, school can be harsh sometimes. Till this days, some of my friends from “Class D” still feels that they don’t fit in with groups of students from “Class A or B” because of the differences.
Young people often go along with things they do not want to do. They think this is the way to win the respect and friendship of others. But, that is totally wrong.
Just because the rest dare to try something unnecessarily, we turned our principle away.
Stick to what you believe without compromising your values. Others might say, just adapt. But if it’s not represent your true self, what’s the point?
This may sounds a little bit peculiar but you don’t have to be different to fit in. When you reach at certain age, all this thing does not matter. You will learn that the world is big to explore. You may encounter other people’s differences and you will learn to accept it. Somehow, you are much cooler in your own way more than you know it and that can be done without doing something you don’t have to.
