"What is right is not always popular, and what is popular is not always right."
-Albert Einstein
My favorite brand of [cheap] nail polish, Pure Ice, put out a color this summer called 'Home Run.' It's that pastel seafoam blue-greeny color that has been really popular.
And that's why I bought it. Because it was a color that was ultra-cool, super popular, very 'in.' But it just doesn't suit me. I keep my nails very short, and pastel colors don't look so good on short nails [and I knew that going in.] Plus, this shade makes the skin of my hands seem especially red, like I have hives or something.
"There's a bigger point to this, right Becca?"
'Yeah, I promise there is.'
"Okay, then make it."
Just like me buying nail polish that wasn't even a good choice for my nails, people make choices all the time based purely on their social value. Who to date, how to do their hair, what to wear - they're all things that can be influenced by outside pressures.
Now, the boy you date or the products you use in your hair or the clothing brands you wear - these things may not be bad, even if you chose them based on what other people made you think was right for you. In fact, the boy might be perfect for you, the products may do your hair lots of favors, and the clothes may look perfect on your figure. I certainly don't want to give the impression that I think everything and everyone that conforms to social standards is evil. But it pays to be aware of why you do what you do.
Look, my point is, if you know that pastel nail polish isn't for you, it's okay to sit back and let that trend go by. The nature of the choices we have to make change once we get out of high school, but the habit of how we make those decisions won't change. You and I need to learn how to make choices based on what's right for US, and we need to learn to do it soon, because big choices are coming up. Our opinions and our needs matter, and we should take them seriously.
"Avoid popularity if you would have peace."
-Abraham Lincoln
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