Why Do We Care?

Lily Tikijian
September 8, 2009
Great Books Period 5
Mr. Priest

Why is it difficult not to care about what others think of you? Do we control the way other people see and think about us?

It is very difficult not to care about what others think of us. It is difficult not to care about what others think of us because humans are social people. We are all extraverted in our own ways. We want people to like us and accept us, and if that means not being yourself, that’s what must be done. People think that being accepted by friends and peers in their lives is one of the most important things. If people don’t accept you for who you are, many people change who they are to please others. Why do we do this? I don’t think we really know why we do this. We feel like we must establish this self-image of ourselves that people like. We do control the way other people see us but we can’t control how they think of us. We can control this by dressing the way we want, looking the way we want, and being the person they want us to be. We can’t control what they think of us, even if we are trying to be someone else, some people can see right through that act and some can’t. Even if we are being the person they want us to be, we have no control over their thought process. We want to be accepted and in some cases, people want to be different and stick out. It depends on the type of person you are and what kind of community you are in. I feel like people at University are more likely to be “themselves” then they would at any other school. We all have to try and be someone were not to fit in with the crowd. We can control the way other people see us, but not the way they think. We want to control the way people think of us, but no matter how hard we try, we can't.