True Identity
Does being an individual require having a green Mohawk and a pierced nose? I see so many kids walking around trying to act punk. Not because there escaping the conformists that plague society, but because they want to fit in. Then once the person is in the group they exclude others in order to feel better about themselves. "We wanted to confront the people or institutions that seemed unjust instead of establishing an institution from which we could exclude others (which, sadly, is what many punkers really want.) Greg Graffin shows that being an individual doesn't require being punk. Punk is the way that he came to be an individual, but that doesn't mean it's right for everyone. "We punkers bonded over are collective turmoil, not our individual needs or desires." Being an individual is to challenge institution and figure out what your views on life are, not what someone else tells you. An individual is some one who wants to experience life, from their own eyes, someone who doesn't care what other people think or say. When I first entered high school at the age of fourteen, I looked up to older kids. I didn't even know the kids, but I wanted to be like them, because they drank, smoked and hung out with
Getting out of Gig Harbor was just the thing I needed. In order to grow up I knew that I had to see different parts of the world with my own eyes. Do things on my own that I had never done before. Through the academy I traveled all around Southern California, Florida, Texas and Oregon. Kids from other parts of the world brought new customs and views that I had never seen. Kids from Russia, South Africa, Indonesia, Australia, Spain, Bulgaria and Mexico came to play, study and live at the same place I was going to. After a couple of years of partying and hanging out with older kids that were popular because of the way the dress and the kind of car they drove. I found out I didn't like the person I was becoming. I ditched my old friends (my real friends) in order to go and ride around with the older guys, because I thought they were cool. But in reality they weren't my true friends. They weren't there if I needed them. The people that were there for me were my family and friends that I had known forever. The folks who knew what kind of person I really was, even though at that time I didn't know who I was. I was proud of the fact that I was doing something different then the normal kid. I thought by going to a tennis academy I was going to get away from partying and the pressures
Some common words found in the essay are:
Greg Graffin, Bulgaria Mexico, True Identity, Harbor School, Ojai CA, Gig Harbor, Oregon Kids, little clicks, true identity, gig harbor, parties kids, own eyes, feel themselves, individual doesn't, care people, kids didn't, tennis academy,
Approximate Word count = 878
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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