This I believe

A Story by Jasmine

I believe that people don’t need to fit into the status quo, nobody needs to fit the expectations of others, we are who we are.

I remember when I was in elementary school I was a happy little girl, I had awesome friends, and went to an amazing school. I always thought to myself that the world could never be cruel, and I always believed that the people I surrounded myself with could never hurt others. I believed that the people I surrounded myself with were good, and that they couldn’t commit wrongdoings. Although in reality everything is never what it seems. One day I was alone at recess waiting for my friends when I had seen this other girl who was sitting alone. I remember seeing her a couple of times throughout the year and she was always alone but I had never thought anything of it, I just assumed she was waiting for somebody or she wanted to be alone. Although, this time something seemed different, she seemed sad but she wasn’t crying, and so I walked over to her. We started talking and she seemed very nice, I didn’t ask her why she seemed sad because when I talked to her she seemed okay. . We instantly became friends, and I enjoyed talking to her, but when my friends came out for recess I always went with them instead because I assumed she was going to meet up with her regular group as well. Although, one day I was hanging out with her while I was waiting my friends. It had turned out my friends had gotten out early for lunch, and I had no idea. One of my bestfriends Laticia came walking towards us, and everything seemed fine, I was excited to introduce my new friend to her. When Laticia came up to us, grabbed my arm and pulled me away. As we walked away Laticia had told me not to hang out with her. She explained to me that she’s a loser and doesn't deserve friends. She also told me that she was weird and isn’t like “us”, I was disgusted. I could not believe my best friend had just done that. That “Loser” girl was my friend and she might have been weird but everybody is weird in their own way. There is nothing wrong with that.

I later told Laticia that I didn’t want to be her friend anymore if she was going to treat people like that, because it was cruel, nobody deserves that. Nobody needs to fit up to anyone else's expectations. Just because other people think she’s weird, it doesn’t mean everybody has to believe that. Everybody is different and that’s okay, there is no need to judge a book by it’s cover. The status quo doesn’t fit everybody, and not everybody has to fit in it. It’s wrong to judge others because you dislike the way they act or look, everybody is their own person and deserves to be happy.