Humans at their core are very similar. Almost everyone has the same base desires and wants, all people want is to be accepted and have other people value them. I have seen many people change how they act and who they are to conform to a group so that they would be accepted into it. I have been witness to a number of people modifying their behavior so that the people they thought they wanted to be like would like them and accept them into their group. One of my closest friends from fifth grade to seventh grade was Hadrien Pouget. He was a fairly normal person with normal interests barring the fact that he was french and would speak french to his family because it was easier for them to understand and they could speak faster. In the last year of our friendship he invited me to go to france with him in the summer on their family trip, I was ecstatic. When we arrived in late july we landed in paris and had a six hour car ride to the place we would be staying, a large building made of stone that resembled a small castle, complete with a wall. The people there were all his family and of course living in france outside of the big citys not a single one spoke english. I found myself utilizing my limited french knowledge to try and communicate with them but found myself trying to impress these people who I didn’t even know. I was doing this because even when I couldn’t understand the people I was still trying to get into the group of people who seemed to be more popular and have a better time than the others. I think that the only reason I was let in was so that they could mock me but I couldn’t understand if they were anyway. In school I had done the same thing when I was younger to the point where I was popular with every group of people and everyone liked me, I even won a $50 savings bond for being voted the nicest child in the grade. That year was the last time anyone would say that about me because I burned out trying to keep everyone happy, I settled into the role that required the least effort and that was easy because we were moving to a new district. I started to not talk to people and they returned the favor. I have seen many other people do the same thing in different ways, they will just drop all their friends and live alone for a while, none turned out to be happy with that decision. Every high school has that group of people that everyone wants to be in because they are the most popular and some people radically alter behavior to get in. One person I knew went so far as to bribe them by buying them lunch at twelve corners. I believe that “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation” (Walden) because it is apparent in the behavior of everyone. In a job interview, how many people have lied about something to try and get the interviewer to like them or think that they would be good for the job when they really aren’t. Some adults, and soon me, will spend inordinate amounts of money to obtain something that is not entirely practical but looks very cool, such as a camaro or mustang. Thoreau once said “we are inclined to spend