There was this one day when I had an interesting discussion with a group of youth, about what and who inspires each one of us.
During the discussion, Letty*, a 20-year-old who was usually heavily guarded and not particularly easy to reach out to, narrated on the life she lived while she was still following Desiree*, the reality television star she used to admire so much. Letty would rush home after school to watch the rich star on television for the entire two-hour show. This would be followed by various searches through social media to catch up with how Desiree was trending until the early hours of the morning, only to be dozing the following day at school, for the most part. What fascinated Letty the most about Desiree was the way the star always appeared to be effortlessly flawless. Letty explained how she got a rude awakening one day when she was following Desiree on social media as usual, when for the first time, she saw a discriminatory remark posted by the reality television star. Out of shock, Letty held her cellphone closer to her face and thought to herself “okay, so this is how you view other people, Desiree? From now on, you will be followed by people who look up to you and I am no longer one of them.” According to Letty, it was at that point when she overcame her obsession for Desiree and felt at her innermost peace.
