“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits, and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.” A friend recently mentioned to me her complaints over an unfair concept in life. She felt that life was one big popularity contest between school and getting a job and money. In her words, “How do people get good jobs and free stuff? The people they know, their friends.” I realized how truly right she was. Shakespeare’s players are revolving in one big contest over power and money, even if they do not know it. The sword which they lead into battle—popularity.
Everyone knows most aspects of school are one big popularity contest. First, there is the friend group model. Each high schooler holds a hand of maybe five or so cards of their closest friends. Sometimes they pick up a new one, discarding an old one in turn. That old saying, “Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver but the other’s gold?” doesn’t always hold true. The goal of the game-- to attain the best group of friends to make the cardholder more popular, more attractive, and entertained. Have you ever thought you were really good friends with someone for a solid week, then all of a sudden the person stopped showing interest in being friends anymore? Unfortunately, you had your audition. I know how it feels, and it stings, but this is the natural way the game is played, and you can’t take it too personally.
To elaborate, all school clubs are popularity contests. You have to be voted a leader in all clubs. Moreover, you even have to be approved to start a club by other members of the student council in most schools. To have any sway in a club you need to be well liked by others so that they will actually listen to you. Then there’s prom court, a popularity contest for obvious reasons. In my experience, in many school clubs, if you’re friends with the leader they will give you benefits. For example, in the best buddies program where each member is assigned a buddy with a disability to hang out with, all of the leader’s friends just happened to get buddies. If you weren’t friends with leader, you were one of the kids who didn’t get a buddy.
Similar to this theme of friends in high places, if your mom knows the owner of Cousin’s, you might get a job right off the bat, free food, and a salary above minimum wage. Throughout history, how do most all of the President’s workers get their jobs, fabulous salaries, and luxurious vacations? By being friends with Mr. President.
Anyone trying to be famous competes with others in their art form for glory. Sometimes the popularity contest is played on with who was in what magazine and which star is dating who. What does this popularity bring? The power and the money. These things are by no means lasting. The question is, do we have to fall susceptible to this fight for popularity? Can the players consciously go against the system our society has laid out for us without retreating to a compound or becoming Amish?
The truth is, it’s human nature to want to surround yourself with others who better you, and that’s not always a bad thing. Sometimes these social aspects are going to be painful and you wonder, why can’t everyone just be friends with everyone? The answer is simply, that’s just not how the world works.
There is no denying that the popularity contest of high school is fairly unavoidable. One can decide not to care, but to completely not care would be to simply lie down and passively let everyone run all over you. You wouldn’t get to choose your friends or have a voice in whatever you wanted to have a voice in. If your mom gets you a job because she knows the owner of something, you just won the popularity contest without even entering. Eventually your popularity with a friend in a high up place might get you a job as a CEO of a big company.
These things are parts of life. As human beings we are in a constant thirst for power and money. But do these things make one happy? Are they lasting? No. So don’t try to escape the contest, but don’t get too cocky with it or place too much weight on it either. Unfortunately, fighting with the concept or feeling frustrated over it will not help. In the end “All the world’s a stage, all the men and women merely players,” but while they fight over popularity, only their actions will bring them lasting happiness.
