June 7, 2010

Forget-Me-Not

Everybody wants to shine...stand out from the pack in their own way. The world remains one big competition and the huddles of support end up getting smaller. I was speaking to someone about what my favorite compliments are. Yeah, looks are nice but after a while we get desensitized to those. A boy trying to swoon you, whispers a few nice words in your ear and after the rejection, you can spot him doing the same thing, twenty seconds later, in the ear of some chick with a face that looks like she should've never been born. Harsh? Ehh you get the point, we've all seen it happen. Our conversation led to the discovery that besides a few others, my favorite compliments aren't of me but rather my work, my creativity.

In thinking about that, I've gathered that we are in the age of the "Forget-Me-Not's." So many of us have talent that we are dying to broadcast, just waiting for a chance to be remembered for something great... looking for RECOGNITION. Yet, it seems the hardest to get. Especially from those around you. In times where we are bombarded with social networks, you would think it would be easy to build recognition or gain feedback with 1000 friends, pending friend requests and up to the minute status updates. But who's really listening?

When you make it, people claim they always knew you'd hit the top. Yet when you're building up to get there, no one gives you any props. Women, in particular, suffer when it comes to building each other up. Black people fall into this category as well. Instead of helping to spread interest for each other, they rather do their own thing or wait 'til they see a large crowd of people promoting something to decide that it's worth attaching their name to it. Even in relationships, friends, or families you can see the struggle to support movements and lack of inspiration or motivation. We rather network with strangers, than with each other. It's a wild realization, but I have it all the time. We all fall victim, I believe, because it's so hard to rise individually that we have harder times seeing those around us get to higher places. Truth is, sometimes you can only help yourself further by helping others.

2 comments:

  1. I believe you're spot on about this. I once found myself in the category of wanting recognition to continue writing, for people to question and respond not simply to throw random thoughts and provocations at walls that give no feedbacks. I find it quite startling the amount of people that are able to easily exceed at social medias that require no specific face-to-face contact but fail or lack the desire to incorporate the same frequency/ subject matter when presented with a live situation. Social "networking" seems to be creating more anti-social behavior in its intended definition of human-human interaction.
    -June

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  2. I agree. Social media allows us the opportunity to hide behind a screen. Or frankly, to just be nosey. We need to charter the energy that goes into building friends into building each other. Thanks for the comment!!

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