Peer Pressure is 4 da Kidz
When I was in high school I did some really stupid things. At some point during those 4 years I
- Got caught with “unauthorized” females in the house
- Smoke black and milds
- Fought in a weight room full of metal plates and sharp objects (smooth move)
- Chased a school bus 1/4 mile down the street
While all of those things are silly or ridiculous in their own right none of them can come close to my biggest blunder. At my school shoes and clothes were a status symbol. If you had the most expensive or exclusive clothes you were seen as coherent and people assumed you could probably spell your name right. Since I wanted to hold some kind of status I eventually became a sneaker freak. I was all over just about every new pair of high priced sneakers that hit the market.
Every year the genius squad at Nike would pump out a new pair of must have sneakers (Air Jordans, Air Max, etc). When I started buying shoes the price tag was only $140. The most expensive pair a bought was $200. Even though I should have cared, price was no object for me. I had a job flipping pizzas and nothing else to do with the money. So I did the next best thing…flush it down the toilet.
Things really got out of hand during my senior year. Cue the almighty air max 95.
One of the executive sales and marketing geniuses at Nike decided to go through their catalog and re-release the all black Air-Max 95 shoe. It was a pure stroke of genius. It seemed like EVERYBODY under the age of 30 wanted those shoes. As soon as they hit the shelf they were gone. If you weren’t at the store when they were released you could forget about it. Unfortunately for me my grandmother didn’t see the urgency so I couldn’t get a pair.
At first I didn’t think much of it. After all it was just a pair of shoes. How big of a deal could it really be? I found out when I came back to school. All the cool kids were rocking a pair and I wasn’t. In my little mind that made it a big deal.Since I’m not the type to go down without a fight I launched an FBI style manhunt for the shoes. I think the FBI has a 98% success rate. Mine was 0. Every store I went to was fresh out of size 12 all black Air-Max 95 sneakers. I was becoming obsessed and depressed at the same time. All over a pair of shoes. They were the talk of the town and I was left out.
One day my luck changed. I walked into Hibbett sports on the hunt. I asked the salesperson for the size 12 all black Air-Max 95. She went to the back of the store and returned with a box in her hand. A surge of happiness shot through my body as she approached. As she got closer that happiness turned to bewilderment.
What’s this?? The size on the box said 14 not when I had requested a 12. She explained to me that the only size they had was a 14. Up until then I had been very level headed and rational about my hunt. Things were about to change. This was the very first time that I’d had a pair within arms reach.
I slipped them on and “walked” around in them. They were definitely too big. I had room for another adult in there but it really didn’t matter. I had finally had my shoes within reach! All rational thought was thrown out of the window as I began to daydream about my new shoes.
“Are you going to buy them?” the sale person broke through my daydream trying to make her sale. “Ummm…sure I’ll take them.” I was beaming with joy and pride as I walked to the sales counter. That was the first and only time in my life that I paid $145 for something that obviously didn’t fit me.
The next day I woke up and prepared for school. My euphoria was broken up by a dose of reality. I was too caught up in being cool to realize that the shoes were indeed 2 sizes too big. When I walked tt sounded like my shoes were farting. I had to fix this and fix it quick. I took an entire roll of toilet tissue, separated it in half, stuffed it into my shoes, and hit the door for school.
About halfway through the day I noticed that the foot fart had returned. I looked down to see toilet tissue coming out of my shoes.
GREAT!! I hustled to the restroom to remove the tissue and create another plan of attack. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do accept suck it. For the rest of the day my shoes flopped around like I had on flip flops. Actually I did have on flip flops. They were flip flops disguised as $140 sneakers that happened to be 2 sizes too big 
.
For a month or two I tried to find ways to make my shoes fit. Every attempt to look cool only served to make me look silly. I realized things had gotten out of hand when my cousin asked me when I stole Shaq’s shoes from. After two months of making myself look like a clown I packed the shoes up never to appear again.
Conclusion
I tell this story because its humorous and it packs a powerful point. I realize today (and I probably did then) that buying $140 shoes that didn’t fit me wasn’t in my best interest. At the time I was caught up in an emotional storm were fitting in was the only thing that mattered. I felt so much pressure to fit in that I was willing to do something totally foolish with my time and my money to make it happen. Ultimately all I did was make myself look like a complete, 100% _______________ (insert your favorite synonym for idiot).
If you’re not careful the same thing will happen to you as an adult. Society has the power to place a tremendous social strain on anyone not strong enough to resist. I’ve seen some awesome people make some terrible decisions because they want to fit in with the crowd or be “successful”.
Look at the sub-prime mortgage crisis of 2007 and 2008. Everyone (even the financially unfit) felt the need to buy a home to start building towards the highly subjective “American dream”. See how great that turned out? I could go on and on with examples but the picture is already crystal clear.
Analyze your life and start living with your best interest in mind. Don’t go into the grave living the lift of a person being pushed around and pressured by society. After all Peer Pressure is 4 da Kidz!
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February 24, 2008 at 12:08 pm
I was laughing out loud reading about you and those shoes. I was thinking-no is is NOT going to buy those 14’s! LOL!
I had a mother that would only buy Keds and convinced me that my food was ‘too narrow’ for anything else. I bought that one for a loooo-oong time–even when I had my own job and my own money.
Anyway, great blog and great lesson.
February 25, 2008 at 12:14 pm
When I look back on it now I laugh too. That was 7 years ago and I still can’t wear a size 14. LOL