Elizabeth Delos Reyes
Everyone around me seems to be completely oblivious to their own being. Everyone around me seems to rely on everyone else to decide who they are, what they like, and what their existence means. And it’s these very people who irritate me beyond anything else. The current theory is that the human mind is a product of its surroundings, and, as such, it is always growing and always changing to better perform to its surroundings. So, as society changes, so does the human mind. Unfortunately, there has been one pattern that has lasted the ages. I’m talking about human conformity. Everywhere you turn, there is constantly a new trend that EVERYONE seems to be a part of. Whether it involves clothing, or music, or even a person’s word choice, the masses are always blindly changing who they are, with no end in sight.
If I were very optimistic, I’d assume that these trend followers are merely trying out as much as they could until they discover what best suits them. But, since I’m more in line with what you’d call a pessimist, I don’t believe that there will ever be an end of it for any of them. They will just keep changing who they are until the point where they are going to look back, and realize that they never had an identity. Unfortunately, by the time that they reach this point in their lives, it will most likely be too late to fix anything.
But, there is hope for those who feel that they’ve fallen into the vicious circle. Step away from your life, step away from all your problems, and most important, step away from everything that the current fad has brought you. Discover who you are, discover what your goals are, discover, to put it bluntly, yourself.
Not much of a writer so I’ll make it brief. As far as trends go Hollywood and the music industry set the trends (and probably won’t disappear anytime to soon). I also think technology (electronic media, cellphones, ipods, dvd players, wireless this, cordless that etc…) plays a role in who people are or wish they were (identity). And it starts as soon as a child is left sitting in front of what I call “The Lord of Illusions” (television) for hours at a time watching useless, fragmented, programming complete with laugh tracks (escapism) until their eyes glaze over. I know this view is simplistic, but I feel its part of the vicious circle you mentioned.