I overheard some girls complaining about people who get tattoos. They were saying that people with tattoos are completely unoriginal and they're just doing it so they can be "alternative, just like everyone else," and have pretty things on them, etc. etc.
All the girls in question? Pierced ears. I checked.
I don't have pierced ears, and have no desire to have them. I don't know if you've noticed, but this is incredibly abnormal in females. I only once knew someone over the age of thirteen who didn't have them, but only because she had to let hers close up when she realised she had an extreme allergy to pretty much anything she tried to stick in there. If she could've had them, she would. It's as though they're doing it at birth, or something. "Damn, we can't charge a circumcision fee on this one, what do we do?" "Stab it in the ears!"
What I'd love to know is when this became mainstream. When I was a kid, I can remember being exposed to a lot of books and television featuring girls who longed to have holes in their ears, but their evil parents, who obviously did not have their priorities in order, wouldn't let them have them until they were thirteen. Or something.
I can remember friends of mine being extremely proud of getting pierced ears, but I always thought it was extremely weird. Why would you want to punch holes where there are no holes in order to hang stuff on them? Especially when most of the earrings out there are just studs. Most people aren't hanging chandelier crystals from their ears like they did in the 40's.
There are so many things people do from some sort of compulsion that doesn't make much sense other than a desire to fill a pointless status quo.
I've often wondered why we continue to separate public restrooms. Once you go in there, you're in a stall. It's not like it's a privy and you're likely to walk in on someone of the opposite sex and see WAY more than you intended (or even exactly what you intended). Urinals are different, but you could still put a urinal in a stall, no problem. Locker rooms are still a different story, but they make family restrooms now, why not just admit the separation is silly and make unisex restrooms the norm? Everybody poops.
High school graduation. I know I've mentioned this one before, but this is a tradition rife with really goofy things that people DO. Why should seniors pay a buttload of money for "special" pictures of them when everyone else gets their picture in the yearbook for free? Many schools are now banning snapshots as senior pictures, saying they must be professional because of all the recent "problems" with senior pictures (a trend that grew OUT OF those professional packages, morons).
I suppose the graduation ceremony and the prom and whatever can at least be construed as "an honour" or even "fun" but the picture thing baffles my mind. Where did this weird tradition come from, and why does anyone actually do it if they're not going into a profession that needs a headshot?
Weddings. After my own, I am all the more convinced that there is no reason to have them other than to avoid guilt and pressure from others who think they "deserve" to be involved in one.
"How did this tradition get started? I'll tell you! I don't know. But it's a tradition..."