“She carries that rigged little notebook everywhere, she’s so weird“. He’s Chinese, god he must be so freaking smart”. “She’s pregnant at 16, her parents must not care”. These are all statements that leave our generation, teenagers of course, so lost in the reality of this society. Here I am to give you my points of view on the realities of teenagers, in little of 3 cases.

In my opinion, seven out of ten teenagers are misunderstood on the daily basis because of how they live every day. I had a friend back in elementary school that carried a torn up rigged old notebook every day. Now of course, with our generation, no one ever understood why. The way people would talk and distance themselves from her amazed me. She seemed to me just misunderstood. I jumped on the study quicker than you can say jump. After becoming close friends with, she told me what it was with that little notebook. It was a couple years back when her grandmother died. That notebook consisted of poems and old pictures in memory of her. See that there? Just that quick she was misunderstood because she did certain things or because she didn’t want to explain why she had done them. People don’t take the time to “KNOW” someone, which leads me to my next issue.

Stereotypes… stereotypes are a huge leading conflict in our generation today. My sophomore year, I met a girl named Shin. Everyone wanted to be her friend, sit next to her, and try to converse with her, but not for the right reasons. They only acted as such because they assumed she was extremely, incredibly smart. Being the person I am, kind and friendly, I quickly took her under my wing. Plus I’m interested in foreign exchange student anyway, they teach me a lot. I showed her around, helped her with her work, and even invited her to lunch. As I got to know her, I realized she asked more questions in a day than I would in a week. I was so deeply interested because what people were so stubborn to see is that she barely understood English and that our learning styles are different than hers. Assumptions… are the number 1 misleading thing our generation. Assumptions kill our generation, which will lead to my concluding issue.

“She’s pregnant at 16, her parents must not care”. This is where the judgment is lead in the wrong direction. Don’t get me wrong, parents do care, but it is their beliefs, their reasons, and their religions in which determines some decisions that families make. Welcome to my junior year. I have a friend who’s pregnant and she is always being called a w**** and a hood rat. She got pregnant her first time engaging in sexual activities. Does that stop what people are saying? Nope it sure doesn’t. Rumors are spreading quicker than the so called “STD” she has. The reason she is keeping it, aside all the struggle, is because her parents are making her. Her baby’s father was killed a couple weeks ago so because she’s keeping him confidential she’s an unsure w****. How dare people talk about her when nobody knows her story? When nobody can even know how she feels? When nobody can even walk in her shoes? She’s downgrading her luxuries to save to make sure her baby will have it. No one understands her struggle, but yet everyone is against her and ready to judge.

In conclusion, our generation is pretty screwed up. We have problems of our own that we need others to understand, but we won’t take the time to understand others. We give advice, but aren’t so good at taking it right? We don’t want to be judged, but yet we are quick to judge others. We contradict ourselves in the worst ways now days. “If someone isn’t what the others want them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how others should lead their lives, but none about his or her own” (Paul Coelho). “Thou shall not be judged” (11th Commandment). When will these quotes ever matter? Let’s get to know people and put an end to these horrific conflicts of our generation.