Genuine Narrative About Being Genuine

          Out of the list that I currently have, I think being genuine sticks out the most. In order to be genuine, you have the be the person you say you are. Being fake has always been something I’ve always tried staying away from. Times in life to be genuine are pretty much 24/7, but mostly in public with other people. I learned that being genuine is the most important character trait in a person because I’ve seen and met too many fake people to become one of them. I’ve also learned from my elders such as my parents and relatives. I’d have to admit that I wasn’t genuine back when I was younger but through experiences and learning from good people, I’ve changed for the better. Being genuine is never a bad thing. Another word that goes hand in hand with being genuine is trustworthiness. Even from a very young age, my parents would always ask me, “Can I trust you?” Not only does it build good character, but being a trustworthy person helps you grow up and learn to be independent. I’ve learned that being a liar and a backstabber have never been good qualities to be known for. I’m not saying that I’m completely innocent of being a liar, but compared to some people I know, at least I know it’s wrong.

          Basically, everyone who I’ve known taught me about becoming genuine. Whether it was my friends and family teaching me that being genuine is a good thing or fake friends and people teaching me that being fake is one of, if not, the last trait you ever want. I remember from having a lot of friends back in middle school, but as the years went on, my friend count started to diminish. I’ve let go of many friends back in high school. In my opinion, you should never lie and pretend to like someone. It may hurt the other person’s feelings initially, but it would be worse if they found out you were pretending you were their friend. A saying that I can relate to goes like “honesty is the best policy”. I feel like I’ll live with that for the rest of my life. I feel like everyone has that one friend that they can’t stand but they can never muster enough courage to tell them the truth. In my eyes, you have to tell them. That’s what being genuine is. Having fake friends has both been a blessing and a curse. It’s been a blessing because I’ve learned from my mistakes and see people for who they really are. It’s a curse because people who I used to trust and care about never really reciprocated those feelings back. For example, around my freshmen/sophomore year in high school, I had a pretty big group of friends, both boys and girls. When we would hang out together, it was always a good time. Until someone couldn’t hang out on a certain day. Almost everyone in that group just felt obligated to talk shit about the people who weren’t present. But the insulting behind their backs wasn’t the end of it. Following the shady insults, ignored calls and texts, never asking to hangout again, and just becoming a completely different person towards that person came after. People were just “kicked out” of the friend group. People getting kicked out was pretty often. It became so often, that we would make jokes about who is next on the chopping block. To be honest, not everyone was fake in that group. It was mostly agreeing with someone else so that they don’t get kicked out of the group. I felt like there was a ringleader in our group. And I have to say that she wasn’t the brightest or nicest people I’ve met. And that’s where being genuine comes into play. I pretty much kicked myself out the group after so many people were. I couldn’t stand hanging out with not only just fake people, but people who believe in fake people. I couldn’t be the only one to have a realization that this whole thing was wrong but I guess I’ll never find out. For a good couple of months, I really didn’t have any friends because I pretty much let go of most of them. I can’t stand lying in front of someone’s face. To be honest, they aren’t really your friends if you have to lie to them. A huge component to a friendship is having trust within each other, and I just couldn’t find it in that friend group.

          But I mean, as people grow up, they change, some for the better, some for the worse. I like to think I grew up in a good way. I’ve learned that I can’t have it my way, every single time. But actually, not having it your way all the time is good. It helps  you embrace and learn other ideas, and most of all, to grow up to be independent adults. If that’s not the goal of growing up, than I can’t think of anything else better than that. Learning from these bad situations helped me strengthen my policies in being a real, genuine person. Without these experiences, I would probably be just like the old fake friends that I used to have.