You don’t have to listen to what they say,
The Haters,
The Drama Queens,
All the people who thrive on the detriment of your social figure,
Those who pick apart the smallest flaws in you.
They don’t deserve your attention and praise because they victimize so many “normal” people simply for being who they are…

Yet in being who we are, are we “them”?
Do we not strive for attention and social figure because of its empty promise of worthines exactly as “they” do?
Is it possible to achieve such status without putting down the average individual for the validation of the prominent individual?
Are we the ones that seek to identify the most trivial of imperfections within ourselves, and bring to attention the equally unimportant defects in our peers to make our own faults feel less unfavorable?
And when others point out these details in ourselves, why do we beat ourselves up over it?
To teach us a lesson?
To linger over past events we now have no control over?
To feel justly punished so that we can eventually forgive ourselves?

So are “they” entirely to blame for our societal shortcomings, or are we not so innocent after all?
Should we be ashamed that we think so cynically of our brothers and sisters as to believe that they are malice in their judgments of us?
But who are “they” and who are “we”?
Does this contribute to an “us against them” mentality?
Has the blame been thrust on a hardly identifiable group because we don’t have the strength to carry that weight on our own shoulders?

Is hostile behavior the result of a lack of self-esteem?
Are we allowing our inner demons and insecurities to possess our lives?

Do you feel like some people are ethically, socially, or academically inferior to you?
Does that give you the right to make them feel that way?

Who really deserves recognition, the person with a big ego, or the person with a big heart?