When Pretensions Make Everything Go Bad…

Imagine yourself face to face with the one person you hate the most, but then you have to be nice to him since you’re already failing at Calculus while he’s excelling at it. How would you react? What would your voice sound like towards him? How would you treat him? I bet you would suddenly be as good as an angel in front of him while behind that angelic front is the hate and despise for that person. In such case, talk about being a “plastic” and a “user” at the same time.

If there were one word I do not want to be associated with, then that word would have to be “plastic”- the art of being a fake or pretending to be someone you’re not. For me, being a “plastic” and being called a “plastic” is something I would not want to happen because I believe that I am simply not that person. I believe that in order to do things and act properly, one has to be true to his self that is why I try to be who I really am in front of everyone else.

Back in high school, I had a classmate who tried so hard to fit in and I clearly see in her the makings of a “plastic”. She was pretending to be nice to another classmate because she wanted to borrow the notes of that classmate. She always clung to that particular classmate during group projects because she always wanted to get a high grade since that other classmate was hardworking and intelligent. However, that classmate I consider a “plastic” is not really the person other people see. She’s just using other people by being nice to them, so that other people would take her in their group. She wants to be part of a hardworking group because she is just lazy to do the tasks. Nobody really liked her back then because of how she behaved.

I don’t like people who are “plastic”- people who pretend to be nice to you face to face, but backstab you when you’re not looking. I do not want to be a hypocrite that is why I try my best to show other people my true colors- what one sees in me will also be seen by another person. This is why I never want to be associated with the word “plastic”.

Although I try so hard to avoid any association with the word, the possibility of any involvement with being “plastic” may happen. For instance, other people may mistakenly interpret my actions as being “plastic” when in fact it wasn’t like that for me. People think differently and everyone would have different interpretations of another person’s actions that is why we cannot erase the tendency that associations to words we never want to be involved with may be happen.

For example, back in high school, my friend was labeled as a backstabber when she said something about another person. That person mistakenly took my friend’s comment as something bad and offensive when in fact, my friend only said those things to be honest and it was part of a task for a certain subject.

Despite the probability of any association with the word “plastic”, I make sure I do not get involved with it. In order to do this, I believe that being one’s self in front of everyone else is simply the key to avoid being called “plastic”. I think that everything begins within the self- most especially the strong will and determination within the self. By not pretending to be someone else, we are able to avoid being “plastic”. Though we cannot really avoid any possibility of mistaken interpretations and negative criticisms of other people, what matters the most is that we know within ourselves that we are being true to who we really are because in the end, our choices and actions in life depend on the principles we live by.