According to Netflix.com, one of the most successful movies of all time is Mean Girls. Known for its cynical humor and memorable quotes, Mean Girls grossed almost $130,000,000! Lindsay Lohan, AKA Cady Herron, stated towards the denouement of the film, “Calling somebody else fat won't make you any skinnier. Calling someone stupid doesn't make you any smarter. And ruining Regina George's life definitely didn't make me any happier. All you can do in life is try to solve the problem in front of you.” I couldn’t agree more with these wondrous words of wisdom. This quote means that the only way to improve ourselves is to improve ourselves, instead of trying to bring someone else down. Herron’s declaration has taught me to realize my full potential, inspires me to build bridges instead of breaking them down, and guides me to a life free from the toxicity of jealousy. At the end of the day, our actions are what separate us from human beings and wild cougars in the animal kingdom. Let’s stay away from the drama, distance ourselves from negativity, and try to keep our lives fetch.
For starters, Lindsay explains through her words how we need to empower ourselves through positivity and determination. At some point in your life, you’ve likely encountered a circumstance you’d like to change. Maybe you wanted a different job, to meet someone special, or to pursue online training so you can finish your degree. Being self-conscious about what you want and need can be very venomous to your life. This is where most people drop out or fail on their path to success, including myself. About three years ago(I was in 6th grade at the time), I was a straight A student at Holy Family Regional High School. However, on January 4th, a bomb was set off. No, not your typical oh-my-gosh-he-has-a-pipe-bomb-in-that-parcel-evacuate-the-subway-or-die type of bomb; oh no, this was more of a son - you-are-going-to-be-transferring-to-Ventnor-Middle-School-next-week kind of bomb. With a blink of my watery, irritated, and inflamed eye, I was standing in VMS’s deserted 6th grade hallway with a book bag carelessly thrown over my shoulder, a new blue Sharpie no-bleed ink Pen in my semi-trembling hands, and an upside-down orange slice replaced on my face where my mouth should’ve been. I glance down to my Mickey Mouse watch and the numbers 8:17 register in my mind. With one solid movement, I swallow down hard, stand up firm, and parade into my first period Reading class with false confidence. Now, before I continue, I have a question to ask; have you ever witnessed making eye-contact with a snake, knowing that it would only be a few mere seconds before the boa constrictor would pounce from the ground floor, wrap its thick, slimy body around your fragile neck, and check killing one more innocent person off of its To-Do list? Well, what I witnessed in Room 201 that Tuesday morning would make that jungle experience seem like a bad episode of Dora the Explorer. Eyes, eyes, eyes. Bewildered eyes, stunned eyes, angry eyes, irritated eyes. Fluorescent eyes, vacant eyes, welcoming eyes, furious eyes. It seemed that all twenty-two students in that room wanted to know my story, whether the reason was positive, negative, or neutral. I quickly made my way to a seat in the back of the seemingly endless classroom, pulled a cheaply-made protective plastic chair out from under the desk, and made myself as comfortable as one could make themselves in the belly of the beast. I wish that I could tell you that I made instant friends that I texted “Hey Wats Upp” to at 1:22 in the morning. I wish I could tell you that I immediately was accepted by everyone like a poorly budgeted Disney Channel straight-to-DVD family movie. I wish I could tell you that I didn’t come home secretly crying one day because of what some people called me at school because of a single, stereotypical story that they heard through the grapevine. However, unlike Pinocchio, wishing gets you nowhere. My grades slipped, my shoes slipped, and my life slipped within 17 days. However, one night I was surfing the web, and one of my favorite movies, Mean Girls, was being shown on Hulu.com. Enthusiastically, I hastily clicked Load Video as I awaited the pinwheel of death to reveal to me when the film’s buffer was complete. When the icon disappeared, I watched my movie. Around the 1:10:09 mark, one of the movies best quotes was recited. “Calling somebody else fat won't make you any skinnier. Calling someone stupid doesn't make you any smarter. And ruining Regina George's life definitely didn't make me any happier. All you can do in life is try to solve the problem in front of you.” I knew that I made a huge mistake in letting anything get in my way of success. The next Monday at school, I built up my reputation at school, brought my grades back up from the abyss they were dwelling in, and finally realized my full potential. To this day, I have maintained a 4.0 GPA, I am respected by my peers, and I finally am able to randomly text “LOL” to a mass of friends at 2:00 in the morning.
Subsequently, this extract from Mean Girls inspires me to build healthy, valuable relationships with others, rather than destroying them with hate and abhorrence. A few weeks ago, I was walking to 2nd period Algebra when I heard someone in the hallway state that friends are only good to have when you can get something out of them. Appalled with this comment, I was about to turn around and let my “colorful” vocabulary shine on his morning like a rainbow on a pot of gold, when I realized; he was right! Now, obviously I am not agreeing with using people for money, fame, or fortune, but I am talking about having friends who will benefit from you, and vice versa. In Mean Girls, Cady Herron befriends the popular group, the Plastics. However, just because they were cool doesn’t mean they were beneficial. Cady’s grades plummeted, her reputation was soiled, and she almost had her favorite teacher arrested due to a fake allegation made on Cady’s part to try to “fit in”. Beneficial? This movie’s quote helped me realize that having friends shouldn’t be a chore.
Finally, this quote guides me to a life free from the abhorrence of greed and envy. It is human nature to adore success, but to loath successful people. Everywhere you go, you see something or someone that you want or want to be. And when we realize that we can’t have that perfect body or that stack of green paper, we do what we do best; kill. Now, since us humans have been removed from the wild for over three thousand years, our means of killing are slightly different. We try to kill the very thing we craved. How do we do this? One, simple word; Gossip. All it takes is one person to whisper something in 3rd Period Science class for everyone in the middle school to think that Christina Perri had breast enlargements by 6th Period English class. I have a dream where one day this nation will grow up to realize what kind of a world we have created. We have taken this beautiful paradise for granted to many times and I say it’s time that somebody stood up for what they believe in and say the phrase that is on everybody’s mind; Shut Up! When we shut up, we can listen. When we listen, we can learn. And when we learn, we can change.
Ultimately, Cady Herron’s quote means that pushing someone down won’t make you stand up straighter. This proclamation has educated me to make my voice heard, sparks the fire in me to build bridges instead of breaking them down, and advises me that jealousy truly is the ugliest trait. Without this quote, I would’ve never been able to walk into that 6th grade classroom the day I did. Without this quote, I would’ve never been able to make my voice heard, and make a reputation for myself. Without this quote, there is a chance that I wouldn’t be here today, typing my memoirs down on this Latitude Laptop. The bottom line is that this Mean Girls quote, despite the name, has saved lives through its utter fetchness.