This I Believe Essay

This I believe: exclusion is real, it hurts, and if you aren't looking, you don't see it.

For instance, there's this girl. I've seen her sitting silently at her lunch table, alone, for ages. I've watched her sit there, with her head down, picking at her food, reading a book, and simply staring into space. The day I finally met her, I was scanning the lunch room, looking for my friends, and something caught my eye. Our lunch room is a sea of happy laughter, noise, color, and contented people. In a way, that joy is what made this scene so devastating.

 Because one table didn't have people swarming over it, trading dumb secrets. One table wasn't filled with laughter and shouts.

At one table, a small girl sat alone.

I went to that table and slowly sat in a chair by the girl. She looked up, surprised. I opened my lunch box, feeling awkward. Finally, I worked up the nerve to speak.

"Hi. What's your name?"

Her lips barely moved as she answered, "Madison."

Despite my best efforts, we exchanged only a few words that lunch period. I don't know why she's quiet, but I have a hunch: looks. Her hair is straight and black, not blonde and curled. Her gut curves out, not in, and her face is plain and splotchy, not caked in make-up. For this, she sits alone.

 Our school is full of people like that. People who were silently and unanimously deemed somehow,‘ugly’, or ‘annoying’, or ‘dumb.’

 There's a saying: 'You never feel lonelier than when in a crowd'. I can tell you that's true. It's one thing to be alone in a place where everyone around you is also uncomfortable. But it's another thing entirely to be alone in a crowd, surrounded by laughs, shouts, and songs. You walk alone, with “best friends” all around you, and feel a little guilty, thinking, 'What am I doing wrong? Where are my friends?'

 To anyone who has ever thought that way, I say this: you are doing nothing wrong. You are perfect just the way you are. A friend who understands will come. I promise.

To the un-lonely, remember: Everyone wants to be included, to be a part of something bigger than themselves. It is a basic part of human nature to want to be with others who think and feel like you do. When you walk past the boy in the corner, or skip your eyes over the girl on the edge of the group, you are keeping people from that joy.

There's no excuse for ignoring people who need you. The number one way to get out of your own problems is to help someone else with theirs. Look for those excluded people. They are everywhere; they need you.

 I believe that if people, in middle school and everywhere, would look for the excluded people and include them, the world would be a better place.

 This I believe.