The Rotten Apple

The Rotten Apple

My mom has always told me, "If you're ever going to get anywhere in life, you have to make good first impressions!". I'll spare you the details about the hell holes I'd live in and the dead-end jobs described by my mom if I did otherwise. Not a lot of people would think this is a big deal. I mean, making a good first impression is one of the first things parents should be telling their kids to do right? I, however, get the lecture a lot when I was a kid. Heck, my mom called me last night to give me my fix. I seem to be unable to make any sort of good impression with lots of people. This is especially true with teachers. You had no idea the pain I went through trying to look for a teacher who liked me to write my recommendation. I'm not complaining though. I make no effort in trying to leave a good first impression, nor do I ever care for the first impression someone leaves after meeting me.

What is a first impression anyway? It is probably the judgement a person makes on another based on the way he or she talks and acts in the first meeting. But in a lot of cases, first impressions are made based on the stereotypes, especially racial ones, that person fit in.

"Wow, you must be really smart.". For most people, this is usually meant as a compliment. And I would take that comment as a compliment, if I had, for example, shown whoever said it the proof to a complicated math problem. But when given the comment the first time I meet someone, it means something completely different to me. It means they forgot to say "because you're Chinese". "Oh, stop complaining! You're in a good stereotype!" is the general response I get when I talk about this with my friends or people in general. That’s about when we would...

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...identifies with a stereotype, he is losing a part of his self to the masses. He then tends to act or behave accordingly, based on what the stereotype demands of him. He asks himself, “What am I supposed to do?” as opposed to “What do I want to do?”. That “want”, I think, is the one answer of how to destroy the concept of stereotype. Still, I find it very ironic that, in a country found on the preservation of individuality and equality, there can be such problems associated with stereotyping and double standards. Perhaps, as a country, we are losing sight of the importance and mystique of the individual. Perhaps we are becoming too lazy and impersonal to understand each other for the human that we are, and not just some vague generalization. I am not a nerd, Americanized Chinese immigrant, Weezer-maniac, rebelling teen, overachiever, or crazed sports fan. I am Wang.