Popularity

Popularity is overrated. I think. I do not know for sure because having never been popular, I don’t really know what it’s like.  

I know some people who have been popular, and wear that mantle with grace and dignity. It seems to come naturally to them. Popularity is not an objective but a natural by-product of their personality. I know some others who have worked diligently at being popular because that was important to them. I cannot say those people were particularly happy, because they worked to hard at being popular and were also concerned about how their actions would affect their popularity.

If popularity were a baseball game, the popular people would be those playing centerfield. They can move a little to the left, they can move a little to the right, but they are rooted in the center. I am somewhere out in left field, maybe a bit too close to the line, but still in the field of play. I can work in harmony with the centerfield for most of the game and occasionally drift into foul ball territory just for the fun of it.

"How do I choose flavors? I really don’t know. I started off with apricot because I like apricots. Then it becomes a game to see what other fruits would work. My wife likes strawberries, so I did some strawberry. It just comes to me."

HARVEY TANNENBAUM, ON PREFERENCES