I'M NOT APOLOGETIC about any of what I'm about to say. I guess in order to be a good editorialist you need to have some conviction.
As you may know, I'm in college. And most college aged people are at a point where we are meeting new people. So I guess when we start to mingle with others our age, yet from all over the country, we want to portray a certain level of self importance; we want to be confident and show our peers that we are worth befriending.
However, some people get a little carried away when they are trying to give off an educated and worldly first impression of themselves and they start to seem arrogant and pretentious.
They'll ask you about music, and scrunch up their nose when you say that you actually like what they call, "mainstream stuff." - I find nothing wrong with listening to music from the radio. It doesn't make me a sheep. I like what I like, whether it comes from the radio or from somebody's YouTube Channel. Even if I did exclusively listen to "mainstream stuff," how's about you enlighten me about something you might think is good instead of acting like an elitist snob!
They'll admonish those who are ignorant about the differences between a bacteria and a virus and then mockingly explain it to you while repeating: "I can't believe you didn't know that!" - Yeah, thanks for pseudo- trying to help. I may not get sick now, but I'm definitely sick of you. And guess what? You are a know-it-all! Being smart doesn't redeem the self righteous unpleasantness of your character.
They'll be attracted to you because being around you, only makes them look more well rounded and "cultured"- Don't you dare smile to yourself when you think about how your group is eccentric and cool because it's peppered with gay people, first-generation Americans, a random old guy with a soul patch, and a really hot chick who never wears pants. Friends don't treat friends like accessories.
They'll try to act like they are so open minded for the purpose of wanting to learn, and then one day insult you to your face because you haven't lived the life that they have- You are just as small as everyone else. You may have had the opportunity to experience something that should have been a chance to learn what the lives of others are like, but you haven't grown from it. You are not better than anyone else if you find a way to attain knowledge, and then use it to make others feel insignificant. You have wasted the fruitful benefits of social exploration for the petty chance to hurt others with it.You've met interesting people. You've traveled. But the whole time you were thinking about how "Worldly" and "Culturally Elevated" you would henceforth appear to be. You didn't gain any semblance of an expanding horizon. And that is the difference between knowledge and wisdom.
Wisdom is using what you have learned for the purpose of bettering. Better yourself, Enlighten someone else, Be Inspired by what life allows you to see and do. You are not entitled to anything in this world. So consider yourself Lucky, and be gracious enough to not belittle those who are ignorant, or disadvantaged compared to you, but share with them what you have learned from your own experience.
