Likes

How many "likes" or "friends" are to some, the vital sum of their popularity. For whatever that's worth. And what precisely is popularity worth? Being a favorite of many doesn't mean anything, really, at least not to the "friends" or the "likes".  It means something only to the individual who is busily counting the checks to pad up their egos. In high school, as it often turns out, the popular students whom we all strive to be, on leaving, often don't amount to anything. They, the spoiled darlings of the school, can't hack the real world beyond the brick walls. They find that the university, for those who can afford it, is a huge place where a high school charmed face and popular status, don't mean a thing. In my experience in high school, the prom kings and queens, no longer worshipped, often dropped out of their universities, opted to get married and begin families, took jobs they didn't need years of expensive student loans to access, went into businesses that either failed or struggled along. None, that I recall became famous. The nerds and geeks, however, made it and had the courage and stamina to get the loans and work hard for their educations to become in their ways, those with fellowships in fine institutions and a few actually did become rich and famous.  Counting "likes" does not a king make, nor a Prime Minister nor a billionaire. It takes talent, luck and sometimes parental money but mostly, it's just work, work, work. Being an original thinker is key. Some of our cybersphere young who, at school are thought of as nobodies, spend time dreaming up games or other artistic or scientific endeavors and quietly strive to achieve those dreams. They don't do it out of being popular amongst their peers or ensuring that they look and think exactly like the rest of "the gang". They are more. Often branded odd and loners, they are too busy pursuing their real ambitions to bother about opinions as to "what" or "who" they are. Their positive dreams absorb their attention and the way to achieve those dreams becomes their mission in life. It doesn't mean that they ignore their peers or shun their company, it simply means that they have learned a balance in their lives and how to gain  their goals that override popularity and "fitting in" by wearing the latest garb or behaving in the most often copied ways. They are different.  While they are branded and often pushed away, they determine that what they are going for  means more than a few years of high school hype. It reaches beyond  to a lifetime of what really matters so that they can become positive influences, however small or large, in the broader world. "Likes" don't count.