In my fourth hour creative writing class we did an activity where we drew a seating chart of the cafeteria. When I saw all of the different seating charts I was amazed. They all had the same groups. They all looked very similar, but they were all a little different.

The table that I usually sit at was listed on the separate seating charts as: jocks, stoners, smart people, regular, and partiers. Now, it seems to me like there is quite a bit of deviation between the different charts. That’s why you can’t take stuff like this seriously. Everyone, will group you, but also everyone sees a group in a different perspective.

So how can it be set in stone what group you are really in, how can you believe what all of these other people say? The only person that can classify you, and put you in a group, is the only person that knows everything about you, and that’s you.

There is no reason to be upset when people classify you, because unless you personally know them, unless you have spent a significant amount time with them, how do they really know? People only classify other people into social groups when they don’t know them. By placing people into social groups it makes it easier for the person doing the classifying to determine what kind of a person that someone is, whether they are right or wrong.

You cannot let the people you do not know get in your head by placing you in a social class. If they do not know you, why do you care what they think? The only opinion that should matter to you is your parents, your employers, your teachers, your coaches and your friends, not someone that you might see in the hallway a couple of times per week and never speak too.

Plus, how can you become angry at someone classifying you in a way that you don’t like when you are probably classifying them, most likely in a way that they won’t like, as well? It’s like the old saying, “What goes around comes around.” It will never end. It’s a part of life. Don’t let it bring you down, and move on.

Social classification, from the beginning of our existence on this planet, has always been a part of human history. Who’s to think that all of a sudden it would end here in the hallways of Arrowhead High School? Social classification has, and always will be, a part of human nature. How you deal with social grouping is what either sets you a part, or sets you within.