Ever have a real bad opinion? Me neither, but is that really because we’re the most informed people alive, or is it because as human beings we feel the need to be correct about everything? Within the Highland Park community, there are so many intelligent and knowledgeable people, but there will always be one person who has the least popular opinion. Just because someone's opinion is unpopular doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad, but it doesn’t mean it’s good, either. In order to understand my community better, I went around the school asking students for their gnarly and nasty opinions.
After stopping one student on their way back from open lunch, I was confronted with an opinion I didn’t even think one could have; “I believe that people should stop giving out giant candy bars on Halloween.” Unfortunately, each opinion is anonymous, so to the readers who are ready to fight, please lower your fists. The only thing you should be fighting is your intractable need to be right. When asked how they could conclude such a thing, they explained that big candy bars took away from the “small candy bar vibe of Halloween.” While I may not agree with this, I can’t blame them. Keeping Halloween vibes intact is pertinent to a healthy lifestyle.
Next up on our bravest citizens list is one student who asserted that “Juniors are too old to be dressing up for Halloween.” Congratulations on becoming the Halloween Grinch, kid, you did it. This made me curious about how many people were actually dressing up for Halloween, so I asked around. Out of the 22 juniors I asked, only 2 of them said they were not dressing up for Halloween.
On the topic of dressing up for Halloween, one student was especially adamant about the fact that “people should stop dressing so [provocatively].” When asking another student about their opinion on how people should dress up for Halloween, they said, “People should dress how they want to dress. Spend more time enjoying the holiday than worrying about what other people are doing.”
“People should stop dressing so [provocatively].”
Let’s finish this off with something a little less political but the same amount of contentious: the age-old candy corn debate. From my extensive research, the majority of people dislike candy corn, but the people who do like it are very headstrong about it being the best candy to ever exist. To quote one student, “If I can’t eat candy corn on Halloween day, people gon’ get hurt.” Ah, freshmen. Their friend retorted, “Guess I’m gon’ get hurt, because candy corn sucks [butt].” I promptly left after initiating such a brawl because I, for one, was not gon’ get hurt.
After conversing with many students around the school, I came to a conclusion. I concluded that I simply should not let others’ opinions affect me. I know that sounds so cheesy, but hear me out for a moment. This isn’t to say, however, that I don’t enjoy the absolute rage I feel when I hear something I disagree with, but maybe we should funnel this rage into something more productive. Maybe join Model UN? (Not sponsored.) People tend to think that it’s their job to change other people’s opinions, but I think we’d all be better off if we hear other people out and respect what they have to say, even if we don’t agree with them.