Chapter 22: Status.

what would you want more in this world, fame or fortune?

one of the funniest things in the world is to be an upperclassmen watching freshmen enter campus for the first time. it's not the fumbling and getting lost that's amusing, or the general sense of astonishment at seeing things they've never seen before, or even the giddiness at being away from home (read: parents) for the first time. it's the way they approach the social circles at college.

every group, regardless of how they associate themselves and each other, have a sense of a social hierarchy. this seems to be the natural order of humans to classify themselves as some being "better" or "cooler" than others. think back to kindergarten, when there were those kids with the cool lunch-boxes of the most in cartoon and the best sandwiches. didn't we all automatically associate them with that intangible status of "cool?" we all wanted to sit next to them during snack time, "sleep" next to them during naptime, and be invited to their birthday parties. why? just because. if we, as children, were capable of making these assumptions without the effects of popularity, what's to stop us from making judgments when we are older?

nothing. that's why we do it. and one day, we start hating ourselves for it.

it is most clear once you have passed a point of making these judgment calls, i.e. when you are an upperclassmen. you start noticing how freshmen will make more of an effort to talk to some older students, while ignoring others. adding certain people as facebook friends minutes after meeting them, while waiting for others to add them. i have even seen some freshmen actively introducing themselves to one person in a group, while acting with indifference to the person standing next to them and staring them down.

survival of the fittest? there must be some evolutionary reason as to why people are programmed to do this. having the most amount of a certain type of friends will get you through college? not true. the best way to get by is to not make enemies. and always remember that though you may not know who people are, they are always watching you.