Alex Zhao
English 1A
MY stereotypical essay on le future goes like this…
Everyone remembers their high school days and who they hung out with. Be it the nerdy kids or the jocks, each individual finds that group they seem to best fit in with. Some may argue this is simply a trait of western society; if this were the case, however, similar stratification wouldn’t take place world wide. From Costa Rica to Russia, kids seem to fit into different groups. When we think of the nerdy kids what do we imagine? - Anti-social, glass wearing, dorky, pocket protector yielding brainiacs who love video games. Same classification goes for Jocks, with different parameters of course. Is this really what all nerds are like? No, all we see is a stereotype. Personally I don’t mind stereotypes. All they prove to be are judgmental classifications. Do I get stereotyped? All the time; are judgments made? You bet; should this happen? It doesn’t really matter. When reflecting on my own life, past, present, and future, this is one thing I wish to make sure; I will not allow myself to fulfill given stereotypes and would rather concentrate on doing what I enjoy and defying these judgments. Stereotypes can be really cool. Most people assume stereotypes are denigrating and a mislabel of things.
We see it everyday, everywhere. The media uses it as a way of portraying political views and we use it as a form of simplification. Why is it everywhere? Well, there are just so many types of stereotyping; it’s literally in every subject. That is to say, whether the topic of discussion is about Asians (smart in math, stupid in English, drives an import, skinny eyes, short, geeky), Blacks (thugs, gangsters, criminals, rappers, carries a lot of jewelry, talks slang), or Whites (spoiled, arrogant, useless, racists), there will be an element of stereotyping. If you compare the lyrics of music by Blacks (guns, gangs, chrome, Mercedes, hood, chrome rims, etc) and Whites (punk, skater, emo) you’ll see that they often stereotype themselves and it’s the listeners who are blind to that fact. Stereotypic thinking is just a natural way of making connections. Sometimes, for example, stereotyping can simplify the demands on the perceiver. Stereotypes make information processing easier by allowing the perceiver to rely on previously stored knowledge in place of incoming information. Another reason why stereotyping is beneficial is motivation. It can be promote a cause for the stereotyped group to change.
There really is no logical downside to stereotyping. Sure, some people, - myself included, defy many stereotypes, - I am terrible at math and can drive very well. Ignorant tree-huggers have just given it a bad name, citing it as unjust, immoral, and just plain rude. Kindergarten teachers tell us that stereotyping is a “big no-no.” Actually, come to think of it, EVERYONE likes to say “don’t judge me,” as if there were no greater sin in our world. In reality, it is a natural mechanism used by people to better understand the world. This is why when someone says “hockey player” you think of a white guy, or “rapper” and you think of a black guy, or “city” and you picture of a bunch of skyscrapers. Positive and negative alike, stereotypes always have been around and, for that matter, always will be. And this brings me onto my view of life…
Stereotypes surround us, affect us, and quite literally, define us. Expectations are then formed, not only to others, but for ourselves. We picture a teen and what are they doing? - Experimenting, enjoying themselves, truly living life. On the contrary, when we stereotypically view the elderly we often see the opposite. Stereotypical 45 year old? - Midlife crisis. What I am leading to is that I do not wish to meet these stereotypes. One of my favorite songs, “The Future Freaks Me Out” has a great tune but I find myself reflecting most on the title. When it comes down to it, the future really does freak me out. I don’t have a damn clue of what’s in store for me, whatsoever. Kids are often asked what they want to be when they grow up. Why? That is the most pointless question of all mankind because we humans always change. I have a general idea of what interests me, but that’s it. I don’t know what jobs I would be the most successful at. I don’t know what jobs would make me the richest. My only way of going about this situation then, is by living life one day at a time. I don’t want to wake up one day when I’m 45 years old and find myself in the midst of a 50 year routine, halfway to retirement, with a crappy job and no social life. Living life to the fullest is what I’m about and if something is an obstacle, I’ll just run it over.
I see myself in the near future as a healthy person with a great job. We’ve all got to live life to its fullest because after age sixty, everything suddenly becomes very slow. If you’re five years old, a year is a fifth of your whole life, which is why it seems to go on and on for an eternity. This is why kids always ask “are we there yet?” on the way to a restaurant. But if you’re 45, a year is a 45th of your life, which is why it passes like a winter’s day in the Arctic. When you’re 45, time passes by quite literally nine times faster than when you’re five. When you’re 75, time is hurtling by at such a rate that driving a car is like plunging through a tear in the space-time continuum. The gas pedal is a hyperspace button. This is why old people drive so slowly; because 20 mph to a senior citizen is like 200 mph to a teenager. When you sit behind them at an intersection wondering why on earth they won’t pull out, it’s because the approaching truck that, to you, is moving at 9 mph is coming at them like the Starship Enterprise on combat power. They say that the fun ends when you hit age 30. Not for me, it won’t…
I look at each new day as a chance to deem myself worthy of living here. Whether I made somebody laugh or someone miserable, at least I can say that I had an effect on someone. The future could be a good thing and it could be a bad thing for all of us. The future holds that special secret that nobody knows of. The future freaks me out.
