I recently stumbled across a video on Facebook that was shared by one of my friends. The video, put up by a man who apparently dedicates a lot of time to ranting about whatever comes to mind, is a whopping two minutes and fifty-six seconds of trash talking on the entire population of teenagers. While my time as a teenager is very quickly running out, I can’t help but be bothered by this. The following quotes by Graham Allen explain why:
“Repeat after me, I know nothing. *sarcastic voice* I don’t like that you’re including all teenagers in your rant. The fact that you even feel like you need to say that is proof that you are exactly who I’m talking about.”
Do not get me wrong, I will be the first to say that I know very little at this young age. However, I do know, that I am not stupid because of my age. At the age of 13, I knew that I needed to go to college to hope to be successful in life. At the age of 16, I knew that I needed to get a job to pay for gas and car insurance. At the age of 18, I knew I wanted to make something of myself so I geared my college studies toward engineering. So maybe I don’t know a lot, but I do know that I want to be a productive citizen and know what steps I need to take to meet that goal.
“Let’s talk about all the beautiful things that teenagers brought us in 2016. They gave us words like: woke, goat, tote, Netflix and Chill. These are our future leaders and they have people out there doing the barb wire challenge, the backpack challenge, the mannequin challenge.”
I completely agree that there are some ridiculous things to come out of teens’ mouths, and fads that I wish would die (The choker thing especially) but honestly who cares? So what if one teen says that Betty White is the “GOAT,” or greatest of all time. It’s a compliment. I’m sure I’m not the only who wishes “Netflix and Chill” would die already, but it’s not only teenagers who use the common lingo. My freshman year of college I had a senior frat star text me those three words at three A.M. The problem is not only teenagers, please do not say that it is. As for the challenges, I haven’t even heard of all of them except for the mannequin challenge, something that I have seen grown adults participate in purely for the fun of it. Stop making it so bad to enjoy something.
“273,000 babies were born to women in the ages of 15-19. Eighty-nine percent go unmarried.”
A fact not mentioned in this video is that the rate of teenage pregnancy is decreasing. In no way do I plan to defend teen pregnancy or say that it’s not a problem, but I refuse to not give credit where credit is due. Whether its teens just not having as much sex, or having smarter sex, the fact is that less teens are becoming parents. Which is great news! I think it’s also important to mention that teens aren’t the only ones who have children out of wedlock. There is a variety of reasons out there to explain why two people who parent a child, do not stay together. And that is their own business. So teens may not think in the heat of the moment, but they’re not the only ones.
“Teenagers these days have no idea of what right is wrong, what wrong is right, they have no idea how to accept the things they cannot change, and they have no idea how to be actual adults."
At four years old, I could have told you that it is wrong to steal a toy from another kid. You cannot honestly believe that at 16 or 17 someone doesn’t know that it is wrong to steal from a store. It’s not that teens don’t know the difference between right and wrong, it’s that teens sometimes fail to choose to do the wrong thing. I will admit, that I don’t know how to be an actual adult. But how am I supposed to know everything about everything at such a young age? My parents can only teach me so much. Whether I am 17, 37, or 67, I will never, I repeat never have life figured out. And I will probably never figure out how to be the perfect adult. But as I go along in life I will piece together the puzzle of life and adulthood together with each new experience and mistake.
“Teenagers. Listen to me clearly, as the American people as a society need you to be better. You don’t have it figured out, you’re not the greatest thing ever, go to work, be a member of society, and stop making things worse.”
Listen to me clearly, teenagers as a society, need the American population to stop putting so much pressure on us teens. I do not have it figured out, not at all. I am not the greatest and I know that. I have worked since the age of 16, and no, nothing hard, but my job as a teenager is to go to school and learn what I want to do as an adult to have a great job. My rights of a member of society are held captive until the age of 18 when I can freely express my political views, and other opinions that matter. Stop making being a teen worse.
I am beyond sick of feeling guilty for being a teenager. The facts are this, teenagers, adults, kids, babies, and the elderly, are all going to make mistakes. I refuse to sit back and let adults bad mouth anyone between the ages of 13-19. I refuse to be grouped together with the few teens who give the whole population a bad name. I refuse to be belittled by an adult who does not know me. And I refuse to believe that I know nothing and that I have made this world worse. I am a teenager, and while my time is running out, I refuse to think that I will not make a kickass adult, regardless of the mistakes I have made, and will continue to make. Let’s be honest, when the clock strikes midnight on my birthday this year, I will not transform into this perfect person, I most likely won’t change at all. But it is then that I will no longer be considered a nuisance to society because I am not a teenager. Is that not concerning to anyone else?
