In high school, due to my somewhat extensive extracurricular activity list and sports involvement, I was often walking around school during class with a hall pass.

I would often see the hall monitors, with their sunglasses and walkie-talkies, patrolling the halls. 

And as your typical “stay-out-of-trouble-Valedictorian-club-president” type, I was always terrified I’d be interrogated and would have misplaced the little slip of paper that said a teacher was vouching for me being out of class.

After all, I would often see other kids be yelled at and sent back to class for walking around without a hall pass. 

Maybe it was the large backpack, the fact I would make sure I had my hall pass visible in my hand, or the fact that I dressed and carried myself differently than a majority of my school located in the “bad” part of town, but I was never asked for a hall pass in the four years I was there.

I learned about the discrepancy of how people are treated based on appearances, reputation, and how well the value you create aligns with the things that others value. 

Not much is different outside of high school, either, and while it’s not always fair, it’s worth it to figure out what worldview others are using to judge value if you seek to enroll them in you and the change you’re looking to make in the world.