American Culture and Complex Nature

    When people think of nature they think of trees the that guard the blazing hot sun from us in the summer, the weather that can change instantly, the birds that sing and wake us up on a spring morning, the dogs you see being walked downtown that you so anxiously want to pet. But what else is nature? Nature is the very aspect that shapes every human into their own person. Every moral, value, like, dislike a person has, effects their nature and in a bigger sense, affects America and its culture.
    Now.. when people think of American Culture, they think of music, food, books, and clothes. They typically go to the things they are most familiar with, such as THEIR FAVORITE music, food, books, and clothes. Every person, famous or not, has an impact on what you are wearing, eating, reading, and listening to every day. People do not realize how much other people influence our ways.
    Now that we have a picture of both of these topics, how do we put them together? When people are on social media, facebook, snapchat, instagram, or twitter they are constantly being exposed to other people and what those other people are eating, buying, reading, and thinking, every second of the day. Whether people realize it or not, we are taking that information in and it is being absorbed into our brains. So now, when we see that person in school, or out in public, all we can think about is that awesome day at the gym they had, or how delicious their food from that delicious new restaurant was. People depend on others opinions of them even if they say they don’t.
    Individualism is definitely an ironic thing because us as humans, are all about “being ourselves” yet, on the other hand, are constantly wanting others opinions of everything we do in life, or we wouldn't post about it, talk about it, or ask our friends about it. We as teenagers, especially, are constantly looking to our friends, family, and significant others to convey their opinion of what we are doing into us and to give us feedback on it. I know personally, I always go to my mom when I am upset, confused, and just don’t know what to do. In some ways, others opinions can be really meaningful and sincere, but at the same time, might not be exactly what we want to hear.
    American culture has always been teaching us about the “ideal person”. The prettiest, richest, skinniest, healthiest, nicest, person you SHOULD be. So why wouldn’t we as teenagers want to be how our society tells us to be? It’s not our faults, social media and other things expose us to the most expensive, cutest, most in fashion things and not expect every teenage girl to want to be that way.
    In today’s society it is known that the celebrities are the ones that we all look up to for the latest trends on food, clothes, shoes, hair styles, and music, but why? What makes that famous person any different than us? The fact that they have money, a TV show? Or that they can sing, dance, or act better than us? It is all about how you present yourself to your peers. As people would say, “confidence is key”. You could be the worst dancer, singer, or actor but as long as you are confident and expressing yourself in your own way, you are being unique.
    Every person is uniquely different, no two people have the same personality, every person likes and dislikes different things, and it is those simple things that make us unique. The fear of not belonging is frightening to us, we constantly want to be accepted in society and would do almost anything to not jeopardize that. We think that having our own opinions, likes, and dislikes, will make us unlikeable. People who are genuine people admire the people who are brave enough to stand up for themselves and can take advice or criticism without taking to heart, but by taking it in, and working on it.
    Now, I am not trying to say that people are incapable of expressing themselves, and being their own person. I am simply saying that American Culture, and society make it very hard for us to know what being unique is. It is in our nature to want to fit in and be someone we are not because we are afraid of being an outcast and not being accepted by society. American Culture is a very complex thing, and when you try and mix it with the nature of us as humans, it becomes much more complex, in the sense that, people try so hard to be themselves, and yet, society makes it so hard for that to happen.