*Love is a Fallacy

Seeing the title, I thought it would all mushy and all lovey-dovey, but to my surprise it really wasn’t. I actually learned a lot from it. At the beginning of the story, I started to get so aggravated with the man who was telling the story. He was so full of himself. He spoke like he knew everything. He was so full of pride. His roommate on the other hand was I guess his complete opposite. He was such a couch potato. One thing in this story that made me want to jump right into the story and smack those guys’ heads was when they made that deal. The deal wherein the Petey chose that insignificant product of torture over Polly!! That made me so furious. I hate guys like that. If he really didn’t care for Polly as much as that raccoon coat, he shouldn’t have “deceived” her that he was really into her. And what was his reason for passionately wanting that coat? Because everyone else had it! And he just wanted to be like everyone else, he wanted to fit in. Oh ya, that was another contrast between him and the one who told the story. Anyway, moving on. A lot of people now a days are like Petey Bellows. We often hear kids now whining: "But MOM everyone's wearing it!" Or, how many times have you heard this: "But DAD I've got to go to the party, everybody will be there. I've just got to! "Behind all of this is the driving need to "belong" and the intolerable fear of being "alone." To say it another way, we are social animals. We have to be around people. We go "crazy" when isolated, over time, from all human contact. We must see and be seen. Talk and be listened to. Touch and be touched. Smile and be smiled at. Laugh together. Share. But sometimes things like this get out off hand, when pressure comes around. "Peer pressure" is what holds the group together. "Peer pressure" is what creates the required attire, slang, and behavior of a group. "Peer pressure" is the price we will pay for being "accepted" into the group. Belonging is a good thing and of course it’s normal but if we have to practically change who we are just to fit in, then that isn’t right already.
We all know we want to be accepted and to belong to a group of friends. I know I want to have that. But also, I want to feel good about myself. And forcing myself, changing the real me just to be someone’s friend isn’t going to do it. Because no matter if I take a 360-degree change, I’d still know deep down in me that they don’t really like me for me. Like Petey Bellows. What happens when he loses his raccoon coat? What happens to those things he took advantage of? Like Polly Espy, whose only reason why she went steady with him at the end was because of that coat? Well, I guess some people like it that way. Some people are blinded by all the material things in this world that they forget about the more important things in people, like how true one can be to himself.