I've met a lot of people. I've studied in a boarding school that was in a whole different state from my home (and not the neighboring one either!), my family is spread across random parts of the country, I've MOVED like a half a billion times, and in doing all of this, I've met a LOT of people. And, being me, I've watched these people and analyzed them and figured out what their lives and feelings and sentiments are, for all they're worth. So, I'm pretty convinced that I know a lot more than other people my age, considering I have only eighteen years' worth of life experience, and I can only remember sixteen of them. And what I've realized most often is that people are fake.

It's true. More than seventy percent of the people I've met are faking something or the other about them. You could say I'm cynical. I'm pretty sure I am. Also, I mostly only meet people who are drama-obsessed teens who're still trying to figure out who they are - if they've even thought that far. But I can sniff out the fakes from the genuines from a mile away now, and I know what I'm talking about. No, it's not the diamond industry.

I think I can say with some conviction - a lot of conviction, actually - that people who fake things about themselves and their personalities are by far the most insecure. I don't mean people who lie. If you've told people things about your ‘wealth' and ‘status' to impress them, you're outright crazy. No, I mean people who pretend they're a lot more confident than they truly are, or a lot smarter, or a lot ‘cooler'. (I think the word ‘cool' has gotten so much attention in high school lately, I might write a hub on it. "Why the word ‘cool' is so freaking overrated".) You could say it's a normal part of growing up, but I would beg to differ. If you want some examples, here they are (If you DON'T want ‘em, here they are anyway):

• 1. Oh-my-god-I'm-so-pretty-and-feminine: I have five purple hairbands, one with sequins, one with fake gemstones that do a better job of pretending they're real than I do, one with a satin surface, one that's plastic yet less of a manufactured product than I am, and one that my ‘boyfriend' (guy I'm dying to date but doesn't look my way so I have tell people we're going out because I'm SURE he'll come to his senses in a bit) chose (looked at in passing). I delude everybody, including myself, into thinking I'm an airhead, and suppress my inclination towards anything remotely intellectual. I value my supposed popularity far more than my intelligence.

• 2. Screw-you-I've-read-Plato: I know ‘everything' about philosophy. I write long, cynical articles about how the country is going to the doghouse, and how all politicians must be shot. I support communism just because everybody else hates it. I've read high-flying literature, and I enjoy writing criticisms because what could be more fun than proving that Shakespeare was a racist punk and every thing Walter De la Mare wrote was crap? I hope and hope that I get the attention my superior intellect craves, so that the cute jock from my History class (yeah the one who sleeps in the back when the lights are turned out for movie presentations) asks me out already.

• 3. Heh-heh-I-have-a-forehead-piercing-you-can't-mess-with-me: I have bored holes in all parts of my body. I race around on a motorcycle and can't say ‘no' to challenges, especially the dangerous ones. I'm outright rude to authority figures, how dare they tell me what to do? I'm surprised I know the word ‘authority'! It has, like, one, two, three, syla... syna... syllaboos! I have a band, our name is "Satan Killer Evil Beasts From Hell". I'm tough. Except when Mommy yells at me because she pinches my ear and it hurts. Ouch. Nobody loves me and I'm sad, so I pretend I don't love anybody.

I guess those examples prove how insecure these pretenders really are. And guess what? Faking isn't getting them anywhere! Now they have appearances to keep up, and lies to balance. In the meantime they're getting more and more confused about who they are and who they want to be. They say things and mean other things and take really really long to grow up and grow out of it, losing any ‘friends' they had in the process. Of course, they never made any real friends, being far too busy making sure they were ‘popular'. Because, of course, that's how popularity works, doesn't it?

Which is why being yourself is such a good idea. No pressure to maintain a façade, no unnecessary pains to take such as watching what you say, eat, wear, do, nothing. People like you for you, and that's the biggest self esteem boost there is! You get to actually air your real opinions, and that's always fun. Relationships work out, because to be true to somebody else, you have to be true to yourself, and to trust somebody else, you have to trust yourself. There's nothing cool about being insecure. When you accept yourself, you'll be able to take care of yourself, and then you can throw out that purple hairband :)