By Michael Mayer
Sports Editor ’04

High school has been quite an experience. So many people I’ve met and labeled. So many people I’m probably wrong about. An example is a girl I liked. She turned out to be a guy. No, not really, but you get the idea. Students are too quick to judge and care too much about their judgment by others.

Looks are the first thing anyone judges. It’s the first thing we notice. You don’t see a greasy-haired fat guy with acne all over his face and run up to get his autograph. I judge people by their appearance all the time. See a girl wearing too much make-up, label her trashy. See someone with an Auburn hat; label them slightly dumber than the average rock. Digging deeper, the girl might just have self-esteem issues, and the Auburn fan might be smart but just has illiterate Auburn-educated parents or something. A lot can be learned about someone from their looks, and I’ll judge women this way until I die. However, looks can be deceiving. Just consider Kellie Gerbers. Looking at her today, you would never imagine that just two years ago she ballooned to 300 pounds.

Reputation also has a lot to do with how you are judged. For instance, I’ve got the reputation of being a jerk based on what I have written (among other things). That reputation is pretty dead on, but reputations are still unfair to judge by. I’ve met supposedly cool people who are cool people. I’ve met supposedly cool people who are as cool as Martha Stewart. So just keep in mind where the reputation is coming from, and give everyone a chance, unless they have red hair.
It seems that in response to all this judgment several factions of students have developed here at Lassiter. There are kids who act extremely fake and nice, obsessed with being liked and everyone’s friend. These people are depressing and can often be found in skylight. There are EMO kids who just want to be unique and get attention. Their identity centers on making and listening to terrible music. These people are amusing. The major faction consists of kids who just want to fit in. They often have to screw up their state of mind with drinking and drugs in order to have fun and feel good. At the risk of sounding like your Mom, that’s pretty lame. There are elitists who patronize others based on politics or religion. There are shy kids who keep their mouths shut afraid of judgment. Then there are jerks like me who make fun of it all.

The people I respect are those who are comfortable enough to not care, and just let it slide. When someone laughs at you, just laugh with them. Then, in the middle of all this laughing, you smack them in the face with a golf club. Hey, I said the people I respect let things slide, not that I