All that Glitters is Not Gold
The tip of an iceberg is a small, unrepresentative portion of something much larger or deeper that can’t be seen or understood.
“All that glisters is not gold; Often have you heard that told; Many a man his life hath sold But my outside to behold: Gilded tombs do worms enfold.”
— William Shakespeare
The modern day phrase of “all that glitters is not gold,” is a concept our society encounters frequently. It means that something seems to be perfect on the surface, but might not be when examined closely. Especially throughout our four years of high school, we as students are not recognized for who we truly are, but merely by our appearance.
A majority of teenagers who use social media create an image that flaunts their perfect life, however the content that is posted isn’t always what the person may be experiencing. When trying to create a perfect image of ourselves, we allow others to judge us when we don’t match what our social media profiles present. Outward appearances are often misleading and an attractive outer appearance of a person doesn’t always indicate who they really are.
Junior Andrea Villanueva is aware of how judgmental society can be and says being mindful of others situations and what they could be be going through despite what their social media feed might show would allow us to grasp the real nature of people.
“You should really try to understand their perspective on things and know all the details of a situation before judging because you could be judging someone without knowing what they’re going through,” said Villanueva.
Sophomore Brooke Silva has noticed how often people are not perceived for who they are and how people can be judgemental of others due to set image they have of them. Silva and Villanueva realize that it is important to exercise care and caution while judging people to try and grasp the real nature of them.
“It’s really important to get to know them before you judge them,” said Silva.
Choir and band director, Geoffrey Felver, admits that the glitter in life may seem ideal, but the quality of something is far more satisfying. Felver also finds that in order to recognize the real nature of people, making judgements slowly is necessary.
“People always try and glimmer, and we want everything too glimmered to attract us to it and so we have to really look at the quality of something, not just how shiny it may seem. A piece of coal under intense pressure becomes a diamond, but it’s not shiny at first,” stated Felver.
Eleanor is a junior at Ripon High. Her personal goals for the school year becoming as involved as possible, qualifying for CIF State swimming championships,...
