Once upon a time (in college)...

I learned about a social scientist named Mead. He came up with the terms "significant other" and "generalized other." We've all heard the concept of "significant other" before: A person who plays an important role in another's life, impacting how they grow and develop. A significant other can be a family member, a friend, or a lover. A "generalized other," however, isn't as common a term. A generalized other is basically considered a "background" person in our lives, someone with little to no impact on who we are. These people include basically anyone; someone you saw browsing in the tampon section at CVS, or someone you smiled at because they sat next to you in class. These people are ultimately forgotten to us. Surprisingly, Mead also says that generalized others include people who aren't even tangible: Fictional characters. Yet, many social scientists--and surely some of you--would argue that fictional characters can very easily help shape who we become. Anyone who read all of the "Harry Potter" books and/or saw the movies could easily vouch for that. Though it is sometime considered 'embarrassing' or even frowned upon to care about fictional characters, it is definitely not abnormal.

There are so many different examples of fictional characters affecting a real person's life. Like "Harry Potter," characters in "Star Wars," "Lord of the Rings," and most recently "Game of Thrones" have become a part of our lives in ways that Mead probably never expected. We care about these people and their well-beings just as much as we would a friend. It is not surprising to see a major uproar if one of our beloved characters gets killed off. This happens even more in TV shows, such as "Breaking Bad," or "Grey's Anatomy," where the characters are even more realistic since we can see them and hear them. Many of us bawled our eyes out when McDreamy (or McSteamy) passed away. Though we continue to watch "Grey's Anatomy" for other beloved characters, we still feeling a hole in our hearts now that they're gone. It's almost like experiencing the loss of a real loved one (but perhaps not as traumatic). Our hearts will always break a little when we have to say goodbye to someone we love.

Fictional characters have also undeniably played an extremely important role in shaping our childhood. Whether it be Junie B. Jones or Mike Wazowski, as children these characters were some of our closest friends. They gave us an outlet to foster our imagination and turn us into creative beings. They are the creatures and people we built snowmen with when our siblings wanted to stay inside during a snow day, played with in the ocean during summer vacation, and protected us from the monsters under the bed when our parents went to sleep. They stay with us when we grow older, perhaps not as playmates but nostalgic memories that always bring us back to joyful times.

The thing about fictional characters is that, yes, they are not real. They can appear real once they are put on a screen with an actor portraying them, but they will never truly exist in our realities. Yet, that's the beautiful thing. Though they may become evil or even be killed off as the plot goes on, we can always go back to the moments when we loved them most. We can reread books and we can re-watch movies/TV episodes. We can fall in love with our people time and time again, and create a space within those pages or episodes where we feel a sense of comfort and happiness. When a character lives within a certain realm, only their writer can control them. Once the writer ends the story, what we do with that story and how it makes us feel can never change. The characters will stay the same, and perhaps be some of the only people in our lives to never hurt us.

So, Mr. Mead, maybe not all fictional characters play a significant role in our lives. In fact, most of them don't. Yet some of us identify as Hufflepuffs, some of us believe in dragons, and some of us still tear up in memory of McDreamy. Someone who doesn't physically exist can still take a spot in our heart, and that's something no one can take away from us.

Here's to the significant fictional characters in your life, may they always be with you.