Just a bit confused

So I've noticed a lot of bitter arguments shooting through cyberspace, particularly on our happy little group of blogs. It made me sad that people are so quick to judge. I don't understand why we have to fight about this stuff. I mean, sure, sometimes I get annoyed with people who are more concerned with their own images than actually living their lives, but I keep it to myself because I don't like to add to anyone's problems. I'm not saying that fashion is a problem. I used to, but as I watched the Oscars this year, I found that it was an absolutely FASCINATING way to learn what people are really like. You know. The things they wear shows (to a certain extent) the things they are interested in. It says to me that they care more about how they appear to others than a lot of other people. Certainly more than me. My entire outfit today consists of things I bought at Goodwill. (I love the random T-shirts you find there.)

I sort of decided to write this in response to a post about the bubble we live in on these campuses. (Campusii?) I've never been surrounded by so many people who are that much more well-off than I am. I always sort of looked at immensely wealthy people as celebrities. Like people I would never come in contact with. Weird, I know. It's always been a fantasy world for me. (As a disclaimer: I'm not bashing the people who are well-off. However, I will bash the ones who are well-off and think that BECAUSE of that, they are better than everyone else.) My family has never been wealthy. I grew up moving around from house to house as we had problems finding a way to find a permanent home. (This was largely because we lived in a town the size of two UP malls placed end-to-end. That town was ridiculous.) I went to public school all my life, with the exception of me finishing out the 8th grade at a parochial school after we moved to Indiana.

The point is that I'm no stranger to trailer parks and the people referred to as "white trash". It's not weird for me to think of the kids growing up with an abusive parent going out behind the school after 3pm to toke up. Alcoholism is not a foreign concept (though I am not myself an alchoholic, I have many friends who are by this time.). In my sophomore year of high school I was asked to prom by someone who is now wanted in California as a sex offender. But these things do not make me bitter. They have only made me stronger. They've taught me the real beauty of being able to attend a school like this. It truly is a blessing.

Blessings are gifts, and therefore should not be expected.

-Miranda