Who cares?

Hey, you're reading this. Maybe. But do I care what you think? Do you care what I think of you?

This past year, I've developed a quasi-nihilistic view of society. It probably has something to do with the college admission process, as I am currently wrapping up my senior year of high school.

It boils down to this: Does anyone really care? Okay, I'm not pessimistic (really - I'm actually very optimistic, and I can back it up with this incredible Time magazine article), but let's consider a few of the superficialities of American society, the ephemeral moments of praise and prestige that people get. Think of the compliments you get from classmates whom you don't really know that well, the congrats you hear given to others for winning Award X. It's mostly out of respect, isn't it? Or just for the fun of yelling something? When you really think about it, with regard to success, people primarily care about themselves and others' perception of themselves.

(disclaimer: this omits philanthropic caring. Also, I would like to re-emphasize the with regard to success)

This whole idea relates to something else you might find interesting: childhood behavior. See, I have a five-year-old sister, and I've observed quite the number of interesting things about certain behavior - behavior that epitomizes that of all children. I'm only going to focus on the one that is relevant here, and that is the sheer outrage of being explained something or told to do something that the child already knows about. Haven't you seen a kid just heat up in fury because someone older reminds the kid to wash his hands or do something he was going to do anyway? Part of this rage comes from the kid's desire to be seen by others as one who already knows, one who's more mature. He really cares about what others think - to the point that it pains him that anyone reminding him something could suggest he didn't know about it. Phrased differently, he recognizes extrinsic value, not intrinsic value. And, interestingly, as we mature, we develop a stronger sense of intrinsic value, a profounder feeling of value in that something simply exists, even if no one recognizes it.

In my experience, when it comes to success, society seems to blow up truthfully minor things. Society's praise becomes excessive, and meanwhile, deep down, no one really cares... people deep down focus on themselves.

(A little more rambling: what IS society, anyway? It's not any one person, though one person could very well contribute to this entity we call society...)