Someone once said that “Bad friends are like paper cuts; both are annoyingly painful and makes you wish you were more careful. There is a question has been burning in our hearts from the very first day of preschool until the very day others sweep our doorstep clean because we are too old to do it ourselves.

From the very time ‘Teacher’ , which we were surprised later in life that this was neither her first nor last name, paired us with another small person, to interact, color, talk and play, even to share our treasured and magical play dough. Though I must admit, those were the rough days.

However, even to this very day, we are forced to ask ourselves that important question. If group work, associations and friendships are really necessary for survival and why is it that good ones are so hard to come by, especially on this egoistic generation? Don’t you wish that friends were just like money, so we could just hold them up to the light and see which one are legit?

More frequently than not, most of us have been exposed to individuals who seem more fake than the produce from a plastic company and know exactly what it is like to be taken for granted and hurt by some persons who you thought would have your back through thick and thin.

Well, who can we blame really? The way in which they were raised? Their experiences? Human nature? One theory is that this generation is actually getting worse than those before us. We are too self-involved and care so little for others yet we care so much about how we look to others on the outside. This generation is always chasing the most popular phenomena, as even at the very sound of a Rolex, Gucci or Dior in the very same sentence with their names, have them jumping and smiling like it's Christmas. In fact, many females enjoy going out to buy pencils, glue and powder to draw all over themselves and some go as far as doing experiments on themselves such as the lip challenge, which involves suctioning your lips in a small container to make them fatter, well in their opinion, ‘more attractive’. But seriously, many people need to know, if you are ugly on the inside then it matters little what you look like on the outside.

We are pinning all our futures on the youth of today. Absolutely no one wants to be involved in a future of which governments can only solve national crises depending on the number of likes we have on Facebook or the most followers on Instagram. Well, I guess we all had to wake up and smell the roses or at one time or another, or in this case wake up to smell the rotting waste at the back doorstep ie people who wish to corrupt our stability in life and drain us like leeches of our connection, assets and even our health and happiness. The major reasons for this new fake generation fall under not only the lack of parental control and leadership but with the TV and video games depicting a total lack of value for other humans. The youths of today are programmed to believe that only their opinion matters and that another person is of little to no value within society.

So what can we do? If you know someone who is like this or worse, actually have fallen short into actually being one of these individuals, don’t worry, there is something you can do to aid your problem.

• One of the main ways is the change your line of thinking and refocus your energies into being the best person who can be both on the inside and out. Many of us are fake because of the shallow thought that we all have such as money, love and possessions, wouldn’t it be good just for one day where you could be true to yourself about what you like and want. Remember others feel like Imposters too.

• Another important thing to remember is that you should not mind others, instead focus on your internal sense of value. The reality is that most people don’t really care or even have the time to worry about what you, what you are saying or what you do.

• Finally, surround yourself with true friends, ones that will never let you down no matter what and people who make u feel like the special person you are. There is very little that we can do about fake friends otherwise. It is a fact that we have to communicate with people, regardless of who they are or how they behave. We all have to interact with all sorts of personalities every day. There is no method that any individual can evade communication or the need for it. Frankly, the best way to stop that is to avoid who you know will hurt you and be the best you, YOU can be.