Who wants to be popular!?

Being popular. Something that came across to me as a good quality to have, when I was in middle school. As I finished high school I realized, ya know being popular isn't how I remember it and now not as desirable. Back then, my perception of being popular was knowing everyone, getting along with them well, and hanging out occasionally.

After 6th grade I noticed that all the popular boys had girlfriends, and I thought I wanted a girlfriend too. Coming into the 7th grade I decided I was going to be popular. I tried my best, despite the fact of how shy I really was. My first breakthrough came in math class.

I had always been good at math and the teacher explained everything pretty well and gave us time in class to work. Naturally I was among the first kids done. The girl in front of me (we'll refer to her as Jane, to protect her anonymity :P) finished early as well. Now Jane was very popular and recently broken up with a boyfriend of hers. How I knew, I don't know. Those things in middle school just fall into your lap whether you wanted to know or not. Anyways she turned around.

"You're done too?"
Dumbfounded, I managed to say, "Oh...uhm...yeah I guess so."
"Wanna play tic-tac-toe?"
"Uh yeah sure."

We played for the rest of the class which was about 10 minutes and this happened repeatedly every other day for a month or so. The whole time Jane was very nice and fun to play with; however she was popular and I was not. Eventually she got another boyfriend. Life went on, and I was still unpopular, but I was close. As I entered high school it was still on my mind. I wanted to be one of the "top dogs" of my class, along with the preps and jocks, but then I got involved in 2 things called drumline and youth group.

For the first time I saw kids that weren't popular not care about it. They loved band and church and didn't care if people thought it was stupid. They enjoyed themselves and the activity. The school year began and they became my best friends. I clung onto them because I had realized being popular doesn't mean anything! We weren't popular and we didn't care! We loved to drum, love the Lord and be with each other. Why do we need to be popular?

I'm glad I never wanted to be popular after that. It seems my definitions of the term have changed from 8th grade until now. It seems being popular in high school consists of how many beers you can drink before you pass out, how many cops you can outrun while you are intoxicated, how many times you have sex on the weekend, and if they are all different people. I thank the drumline and youth group for teaming up and kicking the popularity idea out of my head as a freshman. Who knows, I could be smoking pot trying to get over my hangover now, but it'd be worth it. I'd be popular, right?

I haven't talked to Jane in 6 months, she stayed popular and I stayed unpopular and really only talked that one time 6 months ago on the phone, in high school. I got involved with my music and she got involved with other things. My youth pastor once said to us, "Being a christian isn't popular." It's very true, and every time I feel the urge to be, for some strange reason, I always remember that and what a worldly word "popular" really is.