The English oxford dictionary defines unique “as of which there is only one, unequalled is; having no like, equal or parallel”. This is a serious struggle a Rhodes student encounters once or more in there first year unless one is lucky and hits the popular scale just by luck. It is the turbulent movement of leaving a secure environment called home and moving into the cruel selfish world referred to as hell. Obviously one does not leave without putting up a shield and sword for protection.
We live in a global village, whereby everybody is a replica of the next person and Rhodes is no exception. People buy the same clothes, cell phones and many stay in similar residence rooms. This takes away individualism and makes us, the one reason for institutions to be one uniform. In my experience peer pressure is still evident in the young adults on campus. Many teenagers express “their freedom” in various ways; some come here to build their careers in contrast to others who have come here as a form of rebellion to their parents; they have a fear of missing out and always r.s.v.p for parties and are commonly referred to as “social butterflies”. Others have come to explore other sexual preferences and they are able to this because they can not be negatively sanctioned by their parents i.e. I had this friend who has always claimed to be boy crazy, but she went through a phase of going out with other girls and ended discovering she has always been attracted to girls but society had brain washed to her like boys.
Being unique in Rhodes is a statement that always leaves a trail of thought in my mind, who are we and what we do that makes us think we are different from others. Is it what we wear, the way we walk or the people we socialise with? One must admit we do dwell in an isolated area, its hard for us as students to be different. We must have some sort of similarities. Some form clusters to create individualism just like the following sub-genres which I have chosen because in my eyes they tend to stick out. For example hippies-they are a majority group that demand a lot of attention by walking bare feet around campus with dreads and side bags. In between lectures they will sit on the grass under the arch and speak in philosophised terms. Besides them we then get the stoners otherwise called marijuana smokers, they are an “underground” group who distribute deviant behaviour. They symbolise there group via wearing beanies with a huge ganja leaf on it. They carry themselves with aloofness.
Then we get the hip-hop group that thinks music and any rhythm one can move to was created just for them. Hoodies and baggy clothes tickles there pop and lock. Now with these categories one tends to want to fit in so any form of initiation act which has to be done, one will feel pressurised to do. Forgetting that we all have a choice in life, no one is holding a gun against your head. Some people are just not bothered about having a status or reputation to keep up with. They would rather be themselves then a clone of someone else. We try so much to have an individual style and to make an identity for ourselves that even the fact that we came into this world alone never fazes us.
I believe that people weren’t given a spirit of fear but of love and a sound mind, so moulding ones personality is not up to the world but to there mind set. Yes, people do blow identity creation out of propotion, but honestly speaking who doesn’t want to feel special…
We live in a global village, whereby everybody is a replica of the next person and Rhodes is no exception. People buy the same clothes, cell phones and many stay in similar residence rooms. This takes away individualism and makes us, the one reason for institutions to be one uniform. In my experience peer pressure is still evident in the young adults on campus. Many teenagers express “their freedom” in various ways; some come here to build their careers in contrast to others who have come here as a form of rebellion to their parents; they have a fear of missing out and always r.s.v.p for parties and are commonly referred to as “social butterflies”. Others have come to explore other sexual preferences and they are able to this because they can not be negatively sanctioned by their parents i.e. I had this friend who has always claimed to be boy crazy, but she went through a phase of going out with other girls and ended discovering she has always been attracted to girls but society had brain washed to her like boys.
Being unique in Rhodes is a statement that always leaves a trail of thought in my mind, who are we and what we do that makes us think we are different from others. Is it what we wear, the way we walk or the people we socialise with? One must admit we do dwell in an isolated area, its hard for us as students to be different. We must have some sort of similarities. Some form clusters to create individualism just like the following sub-genres which I have chosen because in my eyes they tend to stick out. For example hippies-they are a majority group that demand a lot of attention by walking bare feet around campus with dreads and side bags. In between lectures they will sit on the grass under the arch and speak in philosophised terms. Besides them we then get the stoners otherwise called marijuana smokers, they are an “underground” group who distribute deviant behaviour. They symbolise there group via wearing beanies with a huge ganja leaf on it. They carry themselves with aloofness.
Then we get the hip-hop group that thinks music and any rhythm one can move to was created just for them. Hoodies and baggy clothes tickles there pop and lock. Now with these categories one tends to want to fit in so any form of initiation act which has to be done, one will feel pressurised to do. Forgetting that we all have a choice in life, no one is holding a gun against your head. Some people are just not bothered about having a status or reputation to keep up with. They would rather be themselves then a clone of someone else. We try so much to have an individual style and to make an identity for ourselves that even the fact that we came into this world alone never fazes us.
I believe that people weren’t given a spirit of fear but of love and a sound mind, so moulding ones personality is not up to the world but to there mind set. Yes, people do blow identity creation out of propotion, but honestly speaking who doesn’t want to feel special…
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1 comments:
Your argument is very hard to follow and your punctuation and grammar does not help with this. You seem to place people in boxes and that is not how the world works. The assumption that everyone does the things they do to gain popularity is untrue. Yes, Rhodes students do sometimes have the same clothes and cell phones but that does not take away the fact that they are unique. And by the way they do not buy these clothes and gadgets to become popular they buy them because it is accessible.
It would be nice if you opened your eyes and saw that not everyone stresses about what they wear and who they hang out with. Rhodes University prides it self on being rich in diversity and all you have to do is take a look at the individuals around you. Don’t label people just because they wear different clothes from you. I hate the fact that you described the “hippies” to be bare footed beings who speak in philosophised terms. Have you even spoken to a “hippie”? I would also love to comment on your assumption of the “hip-hop groups” but your grammar doesn’t help me to understand your logic. The next time you want to label people it would be nice if you got your facts straight.
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