Enter the misunderstood misfit in high school

Some people never find that place where they belong. They are doomed and pressured by society to try to climb the social ranks. And in their path, society rears its ugly head and stops them. A status quo rep and a scapegoat, the misfit is not accepted as a misunderstood genius or misguided talent. They simply do not have the social skills to be accepted by most, if not all. And boy, am I guilty of turning my head in frustration and rejection whenever the misfit's social ineptitude irked me.

This social nature of humans... we're so affixed on what's right and wrong. I'll admit, I went to a high school swarming with nerds and enthusiasts for ambition and knowledge. The status quo was not as evident and almost every nerd, geek, Asian, white person, singer, orchestral player, athlete, coach, homosexual, bisexual, teacher, student, you name it, belonged somewhere, to some group. Not only did they have that, but by senior year we all got to know each other so well (or rather, we all got used to each other), we learned so much about tolerance and the diversity of people that we could shatter glass and find value in every little shard. But it wasn't like nobody ever categorized people in their head still.

I guess people like to imagine we've all veered from the dichotomous selection of people-I-accept and people-I-don't-accept. Even with education, people still have a problem with what they can't understand. We like to think that education teaches tolerance and it does to some degree but it so happens that only people with the right social perspective learn what is taught. So I have to wonder... if the social order mandates that people who don't fit in change, or that the bulk of socially acceptable people should change their views for that minority of less accepted people. Maybe it's an interdependent cycle? If the misfit was accepted in high school, (s)he'd be less misunderstood, (s)he would grow out of social ineptitude, leading to more acceptance, leading to the accumulation of tolerance and respect for human individuals.

I wonder... because I am a guilty woman... for I have secretly labeled people in high school, in spite of my belief that you should be kind to others. I wish I could atone for my secret errs. But alas... the world of high school has passed. And the time of misfits in the status quo, who themselves likely participated in social "labeling", has passed....

or has it? I can't be sure.

Wasn't my post on college girls a kind of social labeling? And to be honest, I don't think I'd mind if people labeled me a social misfit.