Don’t be a leech.

Many people have the problem of being a leech. Most of the time they don’t even realize it. There are many ways you can be a social parasite:

1. The Intellectual Leech

High school is a difficult time and some classes are more difficult for one person than the next. There’s usually at least one person in the class, however, who just seems to ‘get’ the material. A lot of the time this person is also good-natured and would help someone if asked to. Now, it’s not a problem to approach them once or twice and ask for their assistance with a problem or concept you don’t understand. They’re usually more than willing to help with that. It becomes a problem when it happens habitually and no longer are they helping you learn, you’re helping yourself to being told the answers to a homework assignment. It’s even worse when you don’t otherwise talk to someone. No one likes to exist only when they’re needed.

2. The Emotional Leech

Commonly known as a ‘psychic vampire,’ this person is weak in spiritual, emotional energy and in order to thrive, will take this energy from others in one way or another. Some will directly bully others, some will befriend people with weak self esteem in order to make themselves feel better by exploiting it, and others will simply fish for compliments everywhere they go. None of these people do particularly well in social situations.

3. The Regular Leech

The regular leech. They scare the crap out of me. If you try to suck my blood, I’ll probably find it hard to be friends with you.

Have some decency

This goes along with the issue of respect in my last update and it won’t be a long post because it doesn’t need to be. It’s important to have some class in your everyday life.

One of my favorite hobbies is listening. I enjoy walking through the halls and cafeteria at school and picking up entertaining little snippets of a conversation. I would share some of these things with you, but none of them are appropriate enough to quote in a school-sanctioned blog. It’s surprising how many people speak so loudly (and so crudely) about their conflicts and sexual exploits. However, as entertaining as these people may be, I don’t think any of them worth knowing.

Let me clarify. In the Middle Ages, most royal courts had a court jester. There were two types of jesters: the trained entertainer, and the naturally stupid. The first danced and sang songs and told jokes. The second was spoken to by the other members of the court so that they could be entertained by the completely serious statements the dimwitted, uneducated jester would make.

This may sound arrogant for me to say, and I apologize for that, but it’s honestly how I feel. The naturally stupid court jesters of the Middle Ages were not given the chance to attend school, learn proper social behavior, or communicate effectively. All of the students in the cafeteria of Daviess County High School have had these opportunities and some have chosen to be the second, unrespected variety of jester.

While I do enjoy overhearing their conversations, I think I’d be happier overall, have more respect for those individuals, and have more faith in humanity as a whole, if they would tone it down.

Be comfortable with who you are.

Foreword: Because I’ve sort of fallen behind on this blog a few times, this week is a special event: TRIPLE TREMENDOUS TRANSCONTINENTAL TRAVESTY WEEK. This week there will be three updates to make up for my slacking off. I hope you’re as excited as I wish I was.

So a few months ago I came across something that shocked me. That something was this:

“That’s Harry Potter,” you may say. “But something is wrong. That doesn’t look like the Harry Potter cover I know and love. Maybe it’s just a foreign cover. It’s nothing to worry about.”

You’d be half right. It is foreign, but it’s also something to worry about. You see, in the United Kingdom, there are two editions of each Harry Potter book: the children’s edition and the adult edition. What’s the difference? The cover. That’s all. Adults in the UK buy these editions of the books because they’re afraid to be seen in public reading a book with colorful (interesting) artwork directed at children on its cover.

This is because adults must be serious, sophisticated, and sexy. They must be bland and boring and monotonous and they must conform. They cannot have unique interests, such as children’s literature, lest they seem outlandish. So they must rebrand their interests, disguise them so that they seem like more of the same, nothing unique here! They must do this so they remain in their position as respectable, perfectly normal adults.

The ironic thing about all of this is that it’s the very same logic used by Harry’s hated aunt and uncle, the Dursleys, whose main goal in life is to be a perfectly normal, semi-wealthy, bland, boring, suburban family. This goal is the root of their hatred for Harry.

While buying the adult edition of Harry Potter may be an attempt to enjoy the series while maintaining the respect of their peers, some people (such as myself)  might actually lose a tremendous amount of respect for anyone they saw trying to conceal their inner child in this way.

Hiding your true self from the world reveals a weakness to the pressures of your peers to be just like them, which is ultimately giving into the idea that they are better than you and that you must improve yourself by becoming like them. It reveals low self esteem, a lot of insecurity, and a fear of yourself that will cause you to lose much more respect than you will ever gain.