As October 3rd comes upon once again, girls across the country are pulling out their copies of Mean Girls and saying each line out loud beside a bowl of popcorn and all your girlfriends. In short, the only correct way to celebrate what honestly should be a national holiday.
But as your girlfriends leave and you clean up the snacks this year, I ask that you reflect on the movie and yourself.
Mean girls are all around us, even in college and in the workforce. They’re not always the plastics, or the jocks. But they’re always there. They’re the people that silently – or not so silently—judge what others are wearing, the music they listen to, or their hobbies. The modern day plastics are the people who group together over a harmless bond, but eventually exclude others. They’re nice to your face, but will say nasty words about you the moment you walk away. They’re in pantsuits instead of mini-skirts, host dinner parties instead of keggers, and you do have to audition to sit with them. They’re not always the drop-dead gorgeous prom queens, but rather the people who have the personality of a queen bee. Modern day “mean girls” are all around us every day.
But for every Regina George there is, there’s also a Janice Ian. There are people who are comfortable in the skin they’re in, and even if they can be bothered that the Regina’s of the world don’t like them, they don’t change who they are because of it. They too wear pantsuits, but in their own way. They’re nice to your face and when you walk away; even if they don’t really care for you. They have friends in many groups, sometimes with conflicting interests and similarities. They invite everyone to their parties, and will sit with anyone. Modern day “weirdos” are just nice, decent people that don’t judge or hate simply because of differences.
So my question to you is: are you a Regina or a Janice?