After all, you are a human being



David Steinfeld

Undergraduate/Psychology 

I can say that I have had it, that I am disgusted and simply fed up. Yes, it has gotten to the point that I think about throwing up sometimes. By this I mean I am sick of the crazy obsession with perfectionism in this country that turns people away from being human. 

It has finally become tiring to hear people being scared of getting older, that they need to preserve their youth, that getting old is an epidemic that needs to be contained by all means necessary. It’s getting sickening when people tell you that they want to inject botox into their faces later on because they hate wrinkles or push it to the extreme by contemplating plastic surgery. All these people that can’t face life’s nature and desperately hold onto and try to bottle everything like some deranged characters in William Inge’s plays. It could all be so much simpler if they realized that getting old is something beautiful that you have earned.

All because the media dictates to us that being young is the best time in our lives, that it should never end since it’s during this time that we look so perfect and innocent. After that, we are told, it will all go downhill from there. I suggest we become another Cher, Mickey Rourke, or Michael Jackson so that we are so perfect that we can actually compete against wax figures and beat them.

Additionally, it’s our gracious media and society that attempt to convince us of what we should accept as being beautiful. You always see those actors who look perfect because they either have a well trained body or excellent body doubles. As far as Playboy is concerned, you would never see an issue with obese women or a woman that wouldn’t fit society’s definition of beauty. If so, I am sure you would probably find a retard that ended up suing Playboy for hurting his eyesight. Hefner would pay his debts and insert a warning disclaimer if he were ever to publish a similar issue again. “Warning, please proceed with caution. If you have a weak eye for alternative ideas of beauty, please consult your eye doctor or a physician in case of emergencies.” 

But more so, we always have to strive to exceed our limits and alter ourselves to uphold our validity in this society. We are advised to eat healthy and to constantly exercise. After all, there are numerous people that exercise a lot, some of them excessively. Though I wonder which portion does it for health/exercise or obsession with exercise and how many do it because they really long to be another Ashton Kutcher or Kate Beckinsale or whatever type of tolerated beauty prototype. None of us should ever dare to be overweight or have more than the recommended percentage of body fat on your body because if you do, you are for sure a sinner. We go along, trimming edges of ourselves until we end up cutting ourselves in half because we can’t recognize our self anymore.

To complete my rant about what I perceive as a major sickness, I also have to mention these parents who always tell their children that failure in anything they do shall never be an option for them. The word “failure” shouldn’t even be part of their vocabulary. “Baby, if you screw this up I am gonna be really disappointed. Do you know how embarrassed I would feel at work because of you?” I am not surprised, that The Breakfast Club is still such a popular movie since so many people can identify with the movie’s characters who complain about their idiotic, narrow-minded parents. 
It’s very bizarre that this country claims that one of its greatest values is individualism, doing your own thing, yet so much more emphasis is put on being and looking like the prototypes of perfection that are depicted in the media. Indeed, I often hear that America is a Christian nation while so many profess to look perfect and alter their appearance which is incongruent with their dear Lord’s principle of living the way he/she created them. What it comes down to in the end is that we are so obsessed about exceeding in everything that we forget that simply being a human is good enough.


The Flip Side is a publication dedicated to providing an alternative media outlet and forum on the UW-Eau Claire campus by welcoming the writings, views, and involvement of all students and community members. By reporting on news, perspectives, and opinions on all issues, we seek to develop and maintain our freedom of speech.

All published material remains the property of the individual contributors. Opinions of the writers and contributors are their own. Articles found within, in no way reflect the opinion of The Flipside Press as a whole. The Flipside Press rserves the right to reject any advertising, articles, letters, images, or other material submitted for publication.