As sad as this sounds, it is very true. I believe at one point or another everyone is guilty of committing this crime. This is especially true in America. This is a country obsessed with labels. We do not hesitate to crave designer labels, and even personal labels. In this country, a person is either rich, poor, straight, gay, pretty, ugly, republican, democrat, white, black, etc .
We obsess over appearances as well. There are so many shows on television that claim they can re-surface, re-face, re-build and re-construct everything from your bedroom to your nose. It's become such a large part of culture now.
I am not sure how I present myself to others. Sometimes I am aware of my actions and sometimes I am not. How I might see myself is probably different from how others perceive me. I guess it does matter on the occasion and where I am. In school I will present myself differently than if I was at work or at home. And as much as I might say I don't care about my appearance that is a lie. .
While I began to train myself to become aware of appearances and my surroundings I started to notice the boundaries between others and myself. These boundaries, borders and limits became most clear to me when I entered college. Such boundaries exist between my own outlooks and the outlooks of those around me. In college especially there is a great mixture of ideas and beliefs. .
I grew up in a mid-sized town on Long Island where everyone knew each other since they were little. Everyone in this town pretty much thought and acted the same way. It was the typical suburban place. Yes, there were those who broke out of the box and refused to conform, but a vast majority of my school was typical. Our teachers taught us all how to think alike and we were sheltered from the world. I remember on 9/11/01, the teachers were not allowed to share any information with us until the Principal gave her okay.
