Acceptance--Alton

 

Playing on the high school basketball team these last four years has had its ups and downs. Unfortunately, there have been more downs than ups. This rollercoaster of stress, pain, and isolation has mainly been due to the lack of acceptance in the basketball world. At a competitive school like this one, there’s a certain breed or mold of person that survives for the most part. If you don’t fit into that build, you have your work cut out for you. I have never fit into the hyper-aggressive, confident, and boisterous, personality type that is expected by not only teammates but coaches as well. This has made me an outsider for most of my time as a high school basketball player. There has been a major lack of trust, friendship, and general tolerance that I can say has made my life in highschool and on the team much harder than it needed to be. Now I have gotten to a level with my teammates where I do feel more accepted which has improved my outlook on practice and basketball in general. Prior to this year, practice days were insufferable, and I spent most of my day dreading the thought of having to practice and feel completely alone or inferior to my peers. This all could have been changed earlier had I felt a stronger sense of acceptance from the people I was surrounded by. Acceptance is defined by oxford languages as, “the action or process of being received as adequate or suitable, typically to be admitted into a group.” Acceptance is used in terms of things like programs or colleges, but also in less official settings usch as friend groups or teams. The context of acceptance I’m referring to is in that of the social interaction aspect. Acceptance is more than simply admitting someone into a group or facility. It is about showing them that despite their differences, you can still have a place in an environment or community. Acceptance is acknowledgment that we are all still human at the end of the day despite everything that makes us different people. It is the driving force in people’s ability and inclination to be social and to make friends. Without acceptance, nobody would be able to stand one another's differences. No two people on the Earth are the same, meaning we have to not only be able to welcome people’s differences, but also embrace them. To truly accept someone, you have to acknowledge and also respect what it is that makes people who they are. I feel that acceptance is something that we should all be striving to practice and show more of. If everyone was a little more accepting of one another, many problems that we constantly are fighting would be solved. Depression in teenagers and young adults would decrease significantly. Certain groups of people wouldn't feel ostricized for thier belief systems or preferences. We wouldn’t have to worry so much about trying to fit in; allowing us to grow as individuals and really embrace ourselves. If everyone was able to truly express their thoughts and ideas I believe that society would be growing at a significantly increased rate. People would be able to shed their conformity driven mindset and adopt a much more beneficial growth mindset. When talking about human beings and interactions between them, acceptance should be defined as; the acknowledgement and welcoming of the differences between people.