Oppression: the dictionary constitutes it as maltreatment, prolonged abuse, or control. It’s a term most of us are familiar with, but do not necessarily associate with ourselves. When people think about oppression some will directly associate it with literal physical maltreatment, abuse, or control. But what I am going to be referring in this writing is mental oppression. I am not talking about literal abuse. What I am referring to is what many of us feel that we deal with on a daily basis, being controlled, abused, or maltreated by those whose opinions we most highly value: our peers.

When asked about oppression, more often than not people will not even consider to associate it with themselves. Rather than thinking about the current state of American society, we often connect oppression to slavery, women's rights, or maybe even the Prohibition of the 1920’s. I found that when I questioned my classmates about what they thought oppression in todays society to be, some of them detached it from themselves so greatly that they stated that they believed that oppression is only found in 3rd world countries or very far back in our own nations history. Many of them thought it was obsolete. They did not consider that maybe they themselves were victims of oppression.
Oppression is not as simple as we make it out to be. People often associate the word freedom, the opposite of oppression, with servitude to ones country or with our rights as Americans, but in all reality true freedom comes from the ability to think, say, and feel without having to fear that you’re going to be persecuted. I do not believe most teenagers (or most adults for that matter) can honestly say that they will, think, say, or feel without first taking into deep consideration of what others will think. Why is this? Is it our fear of being judged? Bullied, perhaps? Freedom, when pertaining to ones mental condition, comes from your surroundings as does oppression. When we are controlled by presumptions of others it diminishes our quality of life and our character.

Oppression is not just the inability to express your opinion: it is the very state of your mind, and it is up to you to alter your state of mind. You must get to the point where you learn to free yourself from peoples judgements. You CAN NOT let others take control of your life with their abusive words or actions. It is essential to ones happiness to learn that nobody has control of your thoughts and emotions but yourself. You must learn to take others opinions of you with a grain of salt, even if it is your mother, father, sister, cousin, or even your best friend. Realizing that not everybody is out to get you is also a key step of relinquishing control that others may have over you. You’re not living to please them. You’re living to attain the best quality of life possible for yourself and those around you! What I’m attempting to convey, in simpler terms, is that we all must develop “thick skin”. This is not to say that we must all become, apathetic, emotionless, robots. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Compassion and empathy are both imperative to becoming a functioning member of society, and any person with a conscious will feel rewarded and pleased with themselves for attaining these fundamental qualities.

Once you are able to liberate yourself from the deep concern for others approval and start living to be the best person that you can possibly be, no matter what others may think, we can achieve a quality of life most people only ever aspire to have. It is a very difficult journey for all of us, and I myself have had to learn to overcome this fear of rejection by my classmates. There are lots of bumps along the road and there are days when we think we just can’t bear it anymore, that if our actions don’t have the confirmation of our peers the they must be stupid and invaluable.There will be times where it seems impossible, where it seems as though the world it is out get you. There will also be times where you’re going to slip up: You’ll let that negative thought linger for a couple more seconds or you’ll snap at somebody after you feel that they have provoked you in one way or another. You’ll say something terrible about somebody without a second thought and then feel awful about it afterwards. You must also discover that in order to be happy, you have to be willing to forgive not only others, but first and foremost yourself. I can guarantee that once you are able to reach the place where you don’t care about others opinions and you are being the kindest, most honest, and most genuine version of yourself that you can be, you will be content. You control YOUR own thoughts so it is up to you to destroy the oppressions of the social dynamic of high school and learn to be you, regardless of what anyone may have to say about it!