Drowning From Within

As we enter into a more diverse community in college, we encounter people from nearly all walks of life. It is a difficult transition from high school in a sense that we meet different classmates in a matter of an hour or two. Because of that, we come across different persocnalities; from friendly individuals to loners, from studious students to lazy heads, from introverts to extroverts and from sensible to shallow people. The world is full of shallow people and I don’t know if that is reason enough to write about them but I will, anyway.

Generally, shallow people see almost everything in a superficial manner. Ironically, a lot of them are not even aware that they are already drowning in their own shallowness. They are, most of the time, suffering from boredom and unhappy with their state of life—which actually explains why they end up picking and prodding at another person to feel good.

So, how do we really know if a person is shallow? Listed below are a few characteristics that compose a shallow person based on personal and other people’s experiences. These include intolerance, insecurity, being judgmental, hypocrisy, tactlessness, materialism and flashiness.

A shallow person desires to get rid of all unattractive people in the world—something clearly futile and nearly impossible to accomplish. They are intolerant of how other people dress or even look like, with a mindset that they are far superior. Who would one stand next to for him to feel less unattractive himself in the first place? Pardon me for the shallow joke but it somehow makes sense, doesn’t it?

Shallow people ridiculously take too long before they decide to introduce their boyfriends/girlfriends to peers for the reason that they’re afraid to have them “stolen.” I can’t help but think that this is due to the insecurities they possess. Unfortunately, this happens frequently in real life.

“It takes one to know one” as they say; shallow people think otherwise. Being judgmental is apparently innate in them. They easily jump into conclusions thinking that they know everything. It’s a pain that they seem to know us more than we do. Adding insult to injury, these narrow-minded people mostly insist on what they believe is true; often not paying attention to what other people say.

Hypocrisy is another addition to the parameters of shallowness. If it’s not you, don’t act it! Showing people something contrary to the real you doesn’t help but add to the long list of vices you can have. There may be instances that may be so pressing that one may see hypocrisy as a last resort. But even then, it should not be considered a choice.

Words are extremely powerful that a word or two could either please or hurt a person. When people start using the wrong words, it may follow that he/she is tactless, insensitive or just don’t have a life. A tactless person can be identified as someone shallow. It is worth remembering that there are some matters better left unsaid to avoid making someone miffed; a tactless person can be very weak at this.

Shallow people give importance to material possessions more than well-being or anything else. Materialistic as they are, shallow people attend to a seemingly unending crave for a variety of things at the expense of intellectual or even spiritual values. There is more to life than mere materialistic happiness.

Those who show-off a lot are more likely to be shallow people. They are attention-seekers who think they are successful in entering the limelight through flaunting their possessions. Oftentimes these people have high self-esteem and most, if not all, of the time too arrogant.

Now is the perfect time to evaluate yourself whether you belong to the growing number of frivolous people or not. So, if you’re one of them, you shouldn’t wonder why a lot of people dislike or do not even bother to notice your existence. It’s not yet too late to make a full-360 though, so make that change and make it now.