The man's side of it!

I am in no way very understanding of todays radical fashions. I am a confirmed old-fashioned conservative. I don't have a problem with young people being "individuals", but when I see kids trying to be individuals in such a fashion as this, I wonder what are their parents thinking. I want to go up to the person (kid or parent), whack him (or her) up the side of the head and yell, WHAT were you thinking!
This kid gets beat up, ridiculed because of the way he looks, and still wants to look like a freak. Our daughter likes to wear blue or green coloring in her hair, it bothered me at first, but as Cassie says "it's not permanent." but to look like a freak! I just don't get it!
Attention it's Mr. Radical
04 October 2004
By DEB PORTEOUS

It takes him half an hour to do and he has to sleep half way down the bed at night.
But for Lance Downing it's a small price to pay for individuality.
The 16-year-old Hagley Community College student proudly calls his 30cm green and pink mohican hairstyle "radical".
The mohican has been standing to attention atop Downing's scalp for about two years now during which time it has been through many color changes - red, white, blue, purple, bright yellow, and more recently green and hot pink.
"I get all kinds of reactions to it. Some people yell and call me names, old people are really nice and kids come up with little mohawks and kind of go `whoa'," Downing said.
But Downing, who also sports numerous body piercings, says there is a downside to being "different".
He spent two of "the most intense years" of his life at Shirley Boys' High School before transferring to Hagley at the beginning of 2003.
"I would get picked on every day, separated from the class, yelled at, beaten up, pushed over. All because I was different.
"On my first day at the school, which just happened to be my birthday, I got beaten up in gym class just because I had two piercings."
People at Hagley had been much more accepting, said Downing.
And how does that hairstyle stay upright? There are several options, Downing said. Hair spray (a can a week), caked on soap and water, egg whites and sugar, or a cornflour and boiling water mix.

ohhhhh boy it would be really hard not to laugh my head off if Billy came in with a hair style like that! :P

So, let me get this straight. What you're saying is that just because people ridicule you, even beat you up, for the way you dress, wear your hair, etc., that you shouldn't do it? That you should just give up and do things the way everyone else thinks you should because that's the "right" way to do it and it's "traditional"? I, for one, congratulate this kid for standing up in what he believes in. Yea, it may be different, but what matters is that HE likes it. I'm sure that everyone did things in their younger years that people thought were outrageous and freaky, but then they became normal as people became used to them (look at the evolution of the skirt!!!). He may look like a freak to you, but to him he's completely normal. Some of the most important people in history were considered freaks in their time because of how they looked and did things. If they had just given up and went along with everyone else, then we wouldn't have alot of the things we have today. You can't put a label on someone just because they are different. Sure, their idea of normal may be WAAAAAY off from yours, but it IS still normal to them and if they have the guts to keep at it, then you should encourage them in every way you can. Sorry to make this so long, but I was one of those "freaks" in high school that everyone made fun of. Yea, it sucked, but I just overlooked them and still had a blast! Besides, I just couldn't see myself in the cutsie little clothes the "normal" people wore. They were just so uncomfortable and boring!!! ^_^ Anyway, it's your personality, not how you look, that makes you who you are.

Thanks for your comment Kricket.
I also was ridiculed in High School, because of my weight and I stood up for myself when I had to and brushed off a lot of it. I agree with you completely that the world today would be completely different if everyone conformed to one groups "norm." We need individuals who are not afraid to stand up for what they believe. But that kid is just too weird for me.