"I am sooooooo popular."

If someone said that out loud, how would you react? Would you agree, would you laugh, would you reply with scathing words? Or would you just wonder, "Why did they say that?"

Now, that's a good question. Why do people consider other people popular? For that matter, what is popularity?

In my dictionary, the word "popular" is defined as such: adj. 1. generally liked and approved. 2. of the people. 3. prevalent.

Okay, so that means three things. The "popular" I'm focusing on is definition number one, "generally liked and approved."

In some places, this may be true. The "popular" people may be friendly, outgoing, and generally kind to everybody. They are liked and approved. But when I think about it, the "popular" people at my school are not friendly, nor are they kind to everybody. As a matter of fact, they're snobby and they look down on anybody they haven't known for a very long time.

So why on Earth are they popular?

Maybe it's because they look good. Maybe they're just genetically superior to everybody else. They have long, straight, chestnut hair, or they have perfect golden curls that never get frizzy. Their facial features are perfectly molded, and of course they never break out. They have boyfriends and girlfriends that change every other week. They buy their clothes from American Eagle, Hollister, and Abercrombie, despite the huge price tags. So maybe they have a lot of money. What I want to know is, does that really make them better?

Everyone wants to be like the "popular people," because they're so talented, so pretty, and so cool. Well, of course they are. They are because other people call them that. It doesn't mean, of course, that "popular" people actually are talented, pretty, or cool. It just means that they think they are, so other people do too. And yet, popular people don't care about those other people, because they are not as talented, pretty, and cool as they are.

I think I'm going to aim for being generally liked and approved rather than popular. I urge you to do the same.

This is monkey459, signing off.
*click, click*

Author's Note: I'm not saying that all of the so-called popular people are what I described above, just that it's the impression I get from people I know. And no, I'm not just bitter. :)