People actually do understand, but not in a way you want them to. Or
maybe they really can't understand. After all, who can really read
minds? The mind of an adolescent is complex. Life for them has more
turns than a soap opera. Navigating through their life is like trying
to find one's way out of a labyrinth.
But how hard do they have it? They aren't working. They aren't keeping
a whole family together. They are just in school, learning, and having
fun while building the ladder to a brighter future.
But it is hard.
It doesn't have to be.
Why then is it such an enigmatic stage and so commercially valuable? At
the ages from 11 to even 19 or 20, adolescents and teens really do
think they are the center of the universe. If they don't, they want to
be. Popularity is not literally to die for, but figuratively speaking,
it is.
At this age, friendships are very important. School is the home away
from home, a place where these young people spend most of their waking
moments at. At home, too preoccupied with the net, homework, eating,
and television, they often neglect their families to be in their own
little world, to have a little privacy. At home, they can be different
people, but at school, they have to keep up facades.
Please do not think that this applies to every teen. I often generalize in my writing.
They often keep their thoughts to themselves. They think no one can
understand, asides from the friends they share the same dilemmas,
interests, and predicaments with. They often fail to see the bigger
picture of things and do not think of the future. Encouraging them
seems to be useless and conversations often lead to bickering and even
full-blown verbal fights.
When will this stage pass? What did the parents do wrong? What happened
to the smiling child who wore everything his/her parent bought, who was
happy in his/her parents' presence... What happened to the innocence?
This is the age where peers matter more, unfortunately however, this
can be a mixed blessing. It is an age of independence and the teen can
learn how to socialize in the world. Another unfortunate event however
is that American schooling is inadequate in the areas of providing
students with real-world experience. Sometimes, after high school and
colleges, some people just don't make it and are stuck in their
adolescent/teen stages-- mooching off their parents while continuing to
live in their own little worlds.
You are wondering now how the article thus far relates to the title.
Well, for one thing, popularity and acceptance are so important that it
often stresses a teen out. Popularity, if only there were a secret to
it. How does that beautiful girl with all the boyfriends gain such
popularity? Why does she have such charisma? Or why does that guy have
so many friends? Why do people laugh at everyone of his jokes?
Insecurity often hovers around a teen. Stress from his/her family,
school, and peers can collide. Teenage depression is thus so very
common. It is rather unfortunate and ironic. In such a privilege
country, teens are wishing for more and more and more.
Realizing that there is a bigger picture out there may set teen
priorities straight. Talent exists in generations that are younger and
younger. Unfortunately I will have to use the word unfortunately again.
Talent is often wasted in pursuit of popularity, an intangible notion
that really will do nothing for one in the end.
Time is a wonderful thing not to waste. There are so many things that
teens take for granted. Their families, their opportunities... Having
just graduated from the teen years, I look back now and only wish that
I knew these words when I was a teen.
Teens deserve to have fun. But in the wake of disasters and terror,
teens have to wake up and realize that one day, they will have to stop
dreaming and start working too.
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