These days, my Facebook newsfeed is full of self-righteous posts. In an age where social networking, media, and technology are growing at a pace as rapid as the ideas stemming from our generation, opinions can be seen and heard loud and clear from any platform—especially on the Internet where a computer screen can often feel like anonymity.

I'll admit, it is easy to judge and condemn others for their actions without taking note of your own fallacies. I do it, you do it. Anyone with a brain, emotions and a way of communicating does it; it's just who we are as humans. We are constantly comparing, contrasting and finding ways to convince ourselves that what we are personally doing and thinking is superior to those around us. Call it overcompensating for flaws in ourselves that we are ashamed of, call it "anger issues" or simply call it what it is: raw, human defect.

I always knew I wasn't meant for a "conventional" school. Before I had even reached high school, I was constantly researching colleges to attend. I'd flip through course books and look for classes that seemed interesting. I would explore the majors each college had to offer, flip through student work, look at course texts lists and search for an interesting book that I might want to read. By the time I was in sixth grade, I had decided which school I was going to go to. Then, my plans changed again in seventh grade. Then again in eighth. As you can guess, my middle school excitement-induced pipe dreams were nothing but that, and I now go to a school completely off my pre-teen radar.

The point is, the idea of higher education always excited me. Whether or not it was mainly due to the thought of finally being able to leave my hometown, I couldn't tell you. (Let's just say I was an angsty little 13-year-old.) I always had a passion for art, music and writing. I kept many journals while I was young, and as embarrassing as they are, starting to write at such a young age shaped my personality and the course of my life today.

When it was time to actually pick a school for real, I had already decided that art school was the best option for me. I wanted to spend my years after high school (i.e., my years of forced curriculum) exploring and learning what I was most interested in: writing, fashion, art and music. I wanted to be surrounded by people that were just as passionate about the things I was passionate about. I wanted to be challenged, exposed to things I had never heard of; I wanted my mind to be as open as to what the future had in store.

All of my high school friends (except one, who admirably chose to take the nontraditional route of exploring her faith through mission work in Fiji,) chose to attend state schools and big name universities. That works for them, and I'm so happy that they all have found a school and a group of friends there that suits their lifestyles and aspirations. My group of friends from high school was as diverse in personalities as each of "The Breakfast Club" characters. Each one is pursuing a career completely different than the last, and each one has amazing potential to succeed at their goals. My best friend is pursuing a career in the medical field. Me? I passed out in a high school classroom while performing an experiment using synthetic blood. This just in people: everyone is meant for a different path in life! We are all good at some things and awful at other things! So tell me, if my friends and I can recognize that each and every one of us is meant to bring something completely different but equally important to the table, why am I seeing over judgmental statuses and tweets condemning those with paths differentiating from the condemner?

A popular "art school slur" was popping around on my news feed around finals week of my first semester away at school. Facebook statuses and tweets demeaning art school students was a big fad for the critically stressed, state-school student. Finals for me were equally as stressful. The school I go to, Columbia College, requires liberal arts curriculum alongside any artistic curriculum, yet snide comments were being made criticizing the work load of students at art schools. One status that really took me off guard, from a person I considered a friend and knew I attended an art school, stated: "I wish my final was having to draw a picture. Excuse me while I study for my [yada yada insert 'hard' science or math class] final." This person intended to demean others to raise her own self esteem, but this is a common topic among students that go for more traditional degrees.

The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possible can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.—Kurt Vonnegut

What is it that we are taught as a society that makes us think that certain professions are more critical than others? Or that certain humans are valued less because of the money they make or the work that they do? When did the human race decide as a whole that a person's worth is based on their assigned monetary value or profession? While doctors, nurses and mathematicians all play a crucial role in society and perform tasks that I could never perform myself, when were they given the right to demean others based on practicing a work that they do not understand themselves?

For example, a janitor makes an average of $25,460 a year (according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics from May 2014), yet the average person in this profession goes relatively unnoticed by society and are often belittled for their work. Now, imagine for a moment that every janitor suddenly quit. Of course, someone else would step in for the position, but hypothetically, where would we stand on the cleanliness of our schools? Our parks? Our hospitals? Can you imagine having open heart surgery in a room that hasn't had a splash of cleaning supplies in months? Now, think about what would happen if all the garbage men in the world suddenly quit.

In New York City in 1981, a 17-day trash strike took effect during the holiday season. Trash piled high on the streets and sidewalks, as well as in parks and neighborhoods ranging from low-income to high-income. Waste flew threw the air with the wind, and by the second week of the strike, trash was piled as high as second story windows. The stench was unbearable. Rats took over the streets, and had it not been winter, disease could have been rampantly spread.

Now this article isn't about garbage men, or janitors or any other profession often looked down on by society. And while the original trigger to write this article was due to the degradation of artists in society, this is about the mindset that we have as a populace that certain people are worth more or less based on what they do to feed their families. I chose to go to art school. I chose to stay up until 5 a.m. three nights in a row re-writing, editing and editing again my latest fiction piece. I chose to surround myself with people that support what I do and can also depend on me for support in what they do. If you want to ridicule me for choosing to work towards an art degree, or if you want to call me a slacker for choosing to go after what I most want to do in life, go ahead, that's your choice, but just remember: each person plays a crucial role in their contribution to society. No one person is, or ever will be, in a position to decide the worth of human being based upon that. (Plus, would I pay $50,000 a year to slack off?)

Now, here is a (short) list of artists that have changed the world through philanthropic or otherwise influential work:

Maya Angelou, David Carr, Bono, George Clooney, Beyoncé, David Gilmour, Angelina Jolie, Alicia Keys, Chris Martin, Dolly Parton, J.K. Rowling, Paul Walker, Lady Gaga, William Shakespeare, Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci, Johann Bach, Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell, Harriet Beecher Stowe, René Descartes, Dante Alighieri, Kanye West, Michelangelo, Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh, George Lucas, Meryl Streep, Oprah Winfrey, Sam Simon, Jerry Seinfeld, Jay-Z, Barbra Streisand, Sandra Bullock, Will Smith, John Frusciante, Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock, Claude Monet, Sylvia Plath, Toni Morrison, John Steinbeck.

...And hundreds of thousands more.