Civics

People should be honest. This doesn’t mean blurting out everything that comes to mind, or being so brutally honest to the point where it’s hurtful. It means being true. This idea seems like it should be simple. Sometimes it is. But often honesty gets passed over in an attempt to adhere to social norms. I hate that. I hate these little games we play with each other just because it’s viewed as the proper thing to do. There are so many people who put up a front everyday. Why?

One of the things that bothered me in Ordinary People is the sense of fake. In the charming world of Lake Forest everything has to be in good taste. Everything has to be perfect. That’s not how life works but so many people try to pretend that it does. The dinner party scene angered me the most. Why should it matter if the Cal mentioned that Conrad is seeing Dr. Berger? It shouldn’t. Somehow, we’ve adopted this twisted idea that not having every single detail of your life precisely in order is a bad thing. Well it’s not. It’s okay to be a little bit crazy. We all have skeletons in our closets.