I go through life everyday choosing who I will sit with, talk to, and interact with based on the quality of person I think someone is. I judge others based on their looks, clothes, friends, and socio-economic background. I ignore people that I see as annoying or ignorant. I even dare to rank myself above others when passing them in the hallways. Yes, I am a judgmental, pompous person. But I’m not the only one.

Every human being to ever exist has been guilty of placing a value on someone else’s life, whether they are conscience of their action or not. It’s a terrible truth that no one wants to admit. There is a misappropriation of importance in our society. We mourn over the “tragic” loss of a celebrity from a drug overdose because they “just couldn’t take all of the attention”, yet we ignore the child sitting by herself at lunch, contemplating taking her own life because she feels no one cares. I admit, I find it much more interesting to watch and weep with Kim Kardashian as she drops her $75,000 diamond earrings in the water than to take two minutes out of my life to talk to the new girl at school with no friends.

It saddens me to see a boy of 16 years old shout derogatory remarks at another, disregarding the fact that the insulted boy is just as much of a person as the one shouting the hurtful words. I have found myself laughing along with the boy, but immediately feeling a pang of guilt as the inhumanity of the remarks set it. Since when is it okay to speak to a human being like he isn’t one? Far too often, I along with the rest of the world, degrade others with my words and thoughts, by not only shouting condescending remarks, but by identifying them as less than me, therefore worthy of our evil words.

Not only do I measure the worth of others, but others measure the worth of me. Society estimates the worth of people according to the stereotypes that apply to them. For instance, pageant contestants are often thought of as arrogant, stupid, and desperate for recognition. This popular point of view is disheartening for me, personally, because I take part in the Miss America Scholarship Pageant system. I feel dehumanized by these condescending remarks, as if I’m an animal with no intelligence or common sense, all because a victimizing society labels me as a “pageant girl.”

We treat those that are unlike us or below us as if they are less than human. We adore those with more money and power than us and see them as levels above us- almost superhuman. But I believe that even if we were all identical clones of one another, we would still find a way to not only separate ourselves, but rank one another as worthy of adoration and exaltation or worthy of criticism and ridicule.