The world has a lot of problems so I guess that it should be easy to narrow it down to just three. Three of the biggest problems I see is the self-centerdness of people in every day life,the materialistic views of most of the younger generations, and people’s tendencies to judge someone before they know them.

The problem of people’s self-centeredness I think can be viewed in everyday life. Like when the Tsunami hit of course everyone was saddened by the amount of people that died, but since they didn’t know anyone personally it really didn’t have an affect on anyone. I, myself, was one of those people. Since I didn’t know anyone who died I did not really give it too much thought. Of course I was sad for the people who died but until I sat down and thought about the fact that could happen to any place at anytime which could affect me personally. I then saw how self-absorbed I was because I wasn’t really saddened by the tsunami until I thought about how it could happen to ME. That is the way that most of society is today. Unless something directly affects them they do not give it too much thought. But as soon as the problem becomes a personal problem then it something that should be given the undivided attention of everyone and everything. That is so sad and I am sad to say that I find myself thinking the same way. I have always thought of myself as a sympathetic to other people’s problems but I see now that I was only sympathetic to a certain extent.

The next problem I see the materialism of the younger generations. Where I am from, Palmdale, CA, you are not defined on the way you behave or what you know, it is all about what you have and how you flaunt it. So much of the way people are viewed nowadays is dependent on what kind of car they drive, where they live, what kind of clothes they are wearing, who their friends are, who they know, and other things along this nature. So much of our time is spent putting on aires for other people. Everyone wants to be cool and in so we spend ridiculous amounts of money on single items of clothing, too much time wondering what is the next cool item to come out and how we can get our parents to buy it for us, and ways to make ourselves look and feel more important than the next person. Everyone in some way, shape, or form is guilty of this. The younger generations are taught by tv, magazines, and their favorite stars that you are only as good as the price tag that comes on the clothes you buy or the car you drive. Everything is based upon the outer appearances and nothing is based on actual character of the person.

The second problem I see also goes along with the third problem I see which is people judging other people before they know them. All day people go around making assumptions about people simply because of the way they are dressed or the car they are driving around in or simply because of the people they hang out with. Nobody spends the time getting to know anyone anymore before they form an opinion on them. I know that many of times I have decided on how a person was before I knew them and then when I finally got to know them, usually by accident because if it was a bad view of the person I would not try to get to know them, I would be suprised at how wrong I had pegged that person. Nowadays I try to get to know someone before I decided to like or dislike them. I still sometimes find myself coming up with opinions but I try not to let this discourage me from stopping and possibly talking to the person.

These are the three biggest problems that I see with the world. I know they may not seem as big as maybe the AIDS problem but I feel they are just as important. These problems occur everyday without people putting any thought into them at all. I think that I chose these problems because they are the ones that I can see happening everyday no matter where I go. Also because I find myself succumbing to them. Like I said earlier I am from California and so I have a very California mentality when it comes to most things. In high school I prided myself in being the most popular boy in school. I spent ridiculous amounts of time making sure that all my clothes were designer brands and trying to make sure I never came to school looking as me and my friends say “a mess”. I would not talk to people simply because they didn’t have the right thing on or they hung out with a group of people that was not on “my level”. With my mom being a fashion designer I was always going to fashion shows and meeting famous people which for my little suburban town made me somebody to know. It wasn’t until my senior year that I finally looked at the way people might be percieving me. Most people thought I was shallow and did not know that I was smart and had maintained a 3.7 through most of my high school career. Since I was usually at every party and big function every assumed that my parents were cool with me doing whatever I wanted which was the furthest from the truth. My parents were very strict but since I kept my grades up they saw no problem with letting me go out when I wanted to. But since everyone did not see the way I was when I got home they only percieved me based on the way I was when they saw me outside. During my senior year I decided I needed to change that image. I did a pretty good job by the time I graduated but there were still a couple of people who were suprised that I had actually gotten accepted into a good college and was going to attend it.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 28th, 2005 at 8:47 pm and is filed under Project Progress, Week 02: 3 Big Problems. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.