Cause and Effect

A group that I belonged to in my past is no ordinary group. It was made up of my younger sister, my younger brother and I. We called ourselves “The Pack”. We went by that name because we never went anywhere without each other.

We experienced a lot oh hate and jealousy being drawn towards us. Kids thought we were mean and tough because of the way we carried ourselves. Our appearance was sort of very rugged and rough looking. That’s why we had a hard time making friends. Only the people who knew us all of our lives actually were our friends because they knew how we really were. What they didn’t seem to realize is that we were none of those stereotypical gestures they tried to make us out to be. Even though we were only a three-member group people feared us like we were a whole football team. Kids never got enough of badgering us behind our backs.

The whole idea of this group was to make sure we stick together no matter what the situation was. We vowed to always be loyal to each other and to never let another person come between us. We were sort of like a small organization. We always found ways to make money rather it was bagging groceries or just running errands for the elderly. These are some of the reasons why people thought we were things that we wasn’t.

Therefore, even though we were a group we still fought each other. We constantly nagged each other about unimportant things. We would fight over who’s watching their favorite program or who’s taking a shower first. These were typical things we did to each other just to nag one another. We started to drift from each other but soon reunited.

Once we moved to another part of Philadelphia we gained more friends but still gained a couple of what we called “haters”. For once we felt like we fit in until one girl became jealous because her old friends started to hang out with us. She thought we were intentionally trying to take her friends away from her. The different friends we had now seemed to like us until we found out they really were trying to figure us out. They also thought we were stuck up and thought we can take on everybody.

We’ve got into many fights because of people stereo typing us. Growing up the way we grew up was stressful. We were young kids who shouldn’t have been stressing. The only way we got respect from kids is if we fought them. As we got a little older everyone feared us but the thoughts and gossip about us didn’t stop. It was as if some people were only pretending to be our friends.

However, we did have many true friends that stuck by us. Those were the only people who liked us for us and never judged us in any type of manner. They were kind of like the best friends we never had. Sooner or later our group grew. We were not only a family oriented group. We also had members who liked us for us and decided to join us. By that time people started to wonder about us. Before we moved to a different part Philadelphia we didn’t have as much “haters” we had when we moved there. By us letting more people in our group we became the most fearful squad in our neighborhood.

Little did these people know we were fun loving and kind human beings who wanted the same things out of life that an average kid would want. We craved to fit in with the most popular but it never worked. They thought we were just some trouble making brats looking for attention. Even the nerds didn’t want to hang out with us. Stereotypes can affect a person’s life in ways they can’t imagine. People constantly putting others down and judging them the way they appear can cause the battered ones start thinking that they really are what they aren’t.

We started to believe that what people thought of us were in fact true. But that never changed us. By us believing it that only made us stronger. We didn’t care what people thought of us. We just lived life how we wanted to live it. Although we did become very frustrated we still didn’t show it. We didn’t let that stop us from living our lives.

Kids have done everything in their power to try and break us, but we never let that happen. It was like no one could tear us apart from what we had. We were so close to calling the whole group idea quits but we kept our bond strong and never break our family up.

We grew up dealing with people that hated us for the way we looked and thinking we were something that we’re not. There is always going to be stereotypes everywhere, no matter where you go. It is like apart of everyday lifestyle.

Stereotyping has made an impact on our lives today. It has taught us to never change who you are as a person. It also taught us to never give up on each other and to never judge a book by its cover. You could be assuming how someone is from their appearance