"Real" People

I wrote this after my first semester freshman year at Skidmore College, and really believed it for a while. Then sophomore year I decided that it was totally presumptuous, and that if you got to know any person well enough you would see them as "real". Now I'm at a point where I believe it again, maybe not totally because I realize that when I wrote it I definitely catered it so that I would be able to see myself as "real", and that makes it a flawed theory.

Theory of what it means to be a “real person”, as seen by Mary Rynasko.

To live the life of a “real person’ one must be:

1.passionate

a. in terms of non material things

2. willing to live with little more than necessities

a. one’s current life doesn’t have to be bare, one simply has to believe that if forced he ore she wouldn’t mind losing their frivolous possessions

3. self-reflecting

a. daily questioning one’s self in terms of beliefs and progress toward becoming “real”

4. creative

a. be it physically or mentally

5. willing to trust that there is inherent goodness at the core of mankind

a. no matter who the person is there is a conscious inside them, and they have the capacity to be compassionate

A. It is possible to transcend from being “fake” to being “real”- mostly through the process of self-reflection

B. Individuals are easily classified in terms of their “reality” and many people I know, and even consider my friends are not “real”, but there is always the hope that through self-reflection they will become “real”.

C. It is not a fundamental requirement of “reality” but “real” people also tend to be highly independent. Companionship is a means of enjoyment and community, rather than survival common in those who are less “real”.

Aside: This is a relatively new theory that has been hatched in the past few months; probably after finding out that there are unfortunately few young people who are “real”. I do not yet Know if this theory is too premature and would hurt my underdeveloped friends, or possibly later myself.

*also I am afraid that I am being very pretentious—a characteristic not conducive to being “real”.

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