Question:
I led a very alternative lifestyle for most of my younger years. I lived in a teepee and a mandan. I lived off the land and my parents homeschooled my 2 brothers, my sister, and me. When I was 9 I joined a karate and tae kwon do academy and stuck with it until i was 11, when i earned my brown belt. But then we had to move to West Virginia, and I didnt make friends because we lived in a very isolated area. Halfway through my 6th grade year, i decided to try out public school. It was a very good experience but also very painful. My family was not wealthy; my mom drove a 88 volvo station wagon, my dad a 89 suburban truck. I did not have any ideas about the fashion to wear so that I would be considered "cool". On my first day, I was asked to tell about myself. Oblivious to what others would think, I told them I moved here from North Carolina and before that I lived in NY in a Teepee. I was then labeled "teepee girl". Many other labels were placed on me - walking encyclopedia (I had a 4.0 average), skank, (I took showers, they were just mean!) and others. Now I'm in high school, I'm also considered cool, nice, "hott" to some people, and maybe even popular. I grew out of my negative labels, but some people never grow out of theirs, which really upsets me. I have been blessed to have people like me eventually, and i will NEVER label anyone, because i know how much it hurts to be the oddball.

Choices:
EW06

 

I think that labelling is, thankfully, something most people grow out of. I think people are cruellest as they're entering their teenage years and just before because they're becoming much more judgemental of other people and trying to find their place among their peers without the maturity to deal with it. So as you get older it becomes easier to find acceptance, but as you say there are some who are always labelled to an extent and you have to rise above it I guess.