Escape From Society (#MindOverMatterContest)

Escape From Society

    Society is Satan's favorite place to dump evil. Society itself is not a murderer or thief, it's  a teacher, and that's what makes it dangerous. It plants thoughts into one's head causing them to make awful choices. The news flashes it everyday: suicide, girls hurting friends, poor men stealing to support his family, or mothers too weak to take care of her children. What the news never captures is the whispers of it in even the purest hearts.

    Being a kid who is told she has a perfect life, it's hard for me to say that society has a larger impact on my life than I'd like it to. If it wasn't for pressure to look pretty, I wouldn't go through my routine of facial cleansers each day because that doesn't excite me. If it weren't for shame at my nonexistent skill, I'd still be playing basketball. I wouldn't feel a pang of being unsought when my friends hang out without me.

    Stories display the worst things kids call each other. There's hardly ever a teen book without that bully who pushes peers against lockers while calling them names. In small towns like mine, you don't find these cliche characters.

    The way words get to people like me, is not what they say, but why. I get this horrible feeling when I get compliments, because half the time they feel fake. Like how nowadays everyone gets a participation trophy, when a teacher compliments my work it's not because she likes it, it's because she's supposed to make me feel good about myself.

    Another thing I see in today's society, is it's cool to 'roast' someone with comebacks that make them go silent. Can't we say nice things about people and mean it?

    I spent a long time stressing over how I could fix this problem, after many people with more power have tried but failed. Look at the show Thirteen Reasons Why for example. There's tons of controversy about whether the show teaches kids they have to do something drastic to get attention. Jay Asher's message was overlooked: words hurt.

    One night, words flowed to my mind.

    While the world ignites itself with evil words and witty comebacks, I will not amplify the cruelty, for a truly intelligent person will wait until the sinful fire is extinguished before they choose to create a pure spark.

When I wrote them down, a huge burden lifted off my chest. Now I go by this saying whenever I see society taking a wrong turn. Instead of fighting back and causing an argument and more wrong turns, I choose with kindness. It's a different substance than evil, and enough of it will kill. Only then, when there's nothing but ash, can we start over with a pure spark.

    I fought my internal struggle with a poem. We can fight society by taking action with kindness, not point out its faults and throw evil back. After all, it is impossible to fight fire with fire.