i think i read somewhere once that money is not the root of all evil but that friendship is truly behind the evil. and at first my reaction was of disbelief, i thought "how can friendships, these amazing wonderful connections possible be a bad thing?" but after a couple of days with this thought still weighing very heavily on my mind i began to realize that sadly this is quite true for a great many people. it has become that we base our relationships on the acceptance of our peers, because "it wouldn't be cool to be friends with her because she reads in the halls" or "it's absolutely necessary to befriend him because he skateboards". it's ridiculous how vain and naive we've let ourselves become. i'll admit that i am guilty of this also but i don't think that i am as extreme as some people. because i dont choose to be friends with somebody because everybody else thinks that they're "cool" but because I think that they're "cool", which just means that they act as themselves and dont try to please other people by being 'stupid'. i fully respect and accept that some people cannot help the fact that they are shallow, that they have been exposed to it for so long and they dont know better...but i also believe that everybody is fully aware of their thoughts and actions and at some level has chosen to be the way that they are.