Nobody wants to be friendless. It is human nature to want someone else to talk to, to vent to, to laugh with, to cry with. Students will do anything for the approval of their peers. My generation is struggling. Now, I should rephrase that because I do not like grouping a whole age group of individuals into one category. We have some very happy people who enjoy every moment of life to the fullest, but, everyone is not so lucky. Everyone can’t come to school with a smile on their faces. The majority of students at my high school look forward to lunch, look forward to chatting with their friends, look forward to escaping the stresses of the academic day, because, after all, we work pretty hard. However, that narrative is not true for all of my fellow classmates.

Some students just don’t fit in. They never really find their people. Lunch consists of sitting at the end of a table, attempting to interact with other students but not totally feeling involved (as is illustrated in the second picture). We don’t pay enough attention to the students who are ostracized by social cliques and struggle through a period of the day that has such a positive effect on many students. People on the outside, the ones who see other students being bullied or excluded but have never experienced it first hand, don’t understand. Individuals enduring these conditions at school feel alone (as is depicted in the first picture). Attempting to fit in, we continue to climb, another rung up the social ladder, always looking up. My generation is on a constant metaphorical ladder, competing to reach the top.