Misconceptions

Misconceptions are a very common thing in today’s society with people jumping to conclusions and ready to jump down your throat in a heart beat. As a highschooler misconceptions are a large part of everyday life and having to explain yourself is not uncommon.

For starters as a tall and relatively thin teen, I am constantly asked if I am in cross-country, track, baseball, and of course basketball. Though to be honest the traditional high school sports never really interested me. I prefer to stick to the, as my colleagues would say, ‘nerdy activities’ of bowling, choir, and marching band. 

Many misconceptions lie around the marching band and the school band itself. Many people believe that marching band is for nerdy kids or people that are not very good at any other sports. Though in the band we have a whole slew of people. From football players to volleyball players and from choir singers to people in no other activities at all.

As the Sousaphone Section leader for the band or in other words, the person that is in-charge of everyone that carries one of the largest instruments in the band, marching band is a lot of work. From memorizing your parts, to marching for hours on end in the heat of the summer, to doing a lot of push-ups for mistakes, all while still entertaining towns people in parades. This requires a plentiful amount mental, emotional and physical strength, much more than what most people would think.

As a typical high schooler would, I have been assigned to read the book Persepolis for my English class. The autobiography goes great with the topic of misconceptions as is follows the life of Marjane Satrapi, a young Islamic woman. Marjane wrote the book to dispel some of the misconceptions and stereotypes about Iran. She writes of the misconceptions around Iran, such as all people from Iran are terrorist or have radical beliefs. In her school, Marjane was forced to wear a veil and hide her body because that was the ‘correct’ thing to do. She is taught that the Shah or ruler of the land, was chosen by her God. The government was forcing these thoughts onto her, but that doesn’t mean she truly believes them.

In today’s society, you can not go through the day without being targeted or targeting someone else with a misconception or stereotype. That’s how we were born and taught to behave. We know that we shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover, but most think of people differently because of what they wear, what car they drive, or what house they live in. We as a society just have to break that habit and force ourselves away from the human nature that lets misconceptions control our lives.