Photo via Huffington Post.

It is common for people to immediately dismiss the sensational. We tend to be completely grounded in what we see as rational.

One clear example of this aspect of human thought at work is our expectations for those around us. We have all met (or in some cases, are) those people who claim they will be a famous actor, author or musician, but more often than not, none of us actually believe that these people will succeed in their respective ambitions.

But it was just the other day I realized how illogical this idea is.

I was listening to the song “Centerfold,” by J. Geils Band which tells the story of a man who is shocked to discover a girl he had fantasized about in high school is on the centerfold of a girly magazine. While I was listening to the song, I came to the conclusion that a lot of people I have met in school have gone on to do absolutely crazy things, far beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.

I specifically remember one girl, who had been my dance partner in a play when I was in my sophomore year of high school. She was two years older than me, and was a friend of my sister. She was pretty cool, and she knew how to dance.

It was only recently however that I heard she had found a job as a burlesque dancer for a small outfit that performed in and around the Fargo-Moorhead area. The news was, at first, unbelievable, until I realized that while the thought I knew a burlesque dancer was strange to say the least, I realized that with all of the burlesque dancers there are in the world, there must be plenty of people who know or are related to a burlesque dancer.

Another person I had met in high school came up again for far less flattering reasons. I remember this guy specifically because he was always hitting on a close friend of mine, and often we would read the texts he had sent while drunk, about how badly he wanted to sleep with her.

Recently, however, I had heard he was arrested carrying two kilos of cocaine and charged with intent to sell. Once again, the idea that I had known someone who was now likely to go to prison for a long time on drug charges seemed almost surreal.

While many of my former classmates and acquaintances have gone on to college, and some have graduated, others have chosen different paths. And as I have continued, I have seen more and more familiar faces in unfamiliar situations. One guy I know is training to be a professional wrestler in the WWE, while another is a masseuse in Arizona with a child. One girl is a nanny for several families, and another is a mother of two, living with her boyfriend on a reservation in Minnesota.

We often dismiss the idea that someone we know could ever become a famous actor in Hollywood, because we see these people in a specific situation, and with our own crafted paradigms as to who they are, and seeing them as something else, or even someone else, is impossible for us to comprehend.

After all, these are the same people that we grew up with, the same people who we met that one semester in geometry class, and didn’t see again for the rest of our high school careers. However, if reality has shown us anything is that behind every famous face, there is the story of an average person who was that same person, always claiming that one day they would be a famous musician, or DJ, or wrestler or writer. The people who have passed through your life can go on to do so many things, both surreal and amazing, that it seems absolutely foolish to doubt that they will accomplish all of their goals.

That being said, we will still never  see most of our peers as the people that they may or may not go on to be. Because of our self-centered nature, we won’t see these people as ever exceeding the capacity in which they will effect our lives. We have trouble coping with the idea that others can do things that don’t directly impact our lives.

And despite the fact that I am aware I could be very wrong I don’t believe that anyone that I have ever met will become famous, or abundantly successful. So to all of those who have ever met me, sorry to dash your dreams.

Alex Bertsch is the opinion editor for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected].