For some people, they look back and remember their teenage years as fun, exciting- maybe even memorable. However for many others, their teenage years are something they wish their brain would delete from its memory. Many teenagers are like me: surrounded by stupid people- stupid fellow teens. If you are a teenage girl, you might have experienced people toss this resentment you have against these stupid people aside and say 'Its puberty, you're overreacting', but truth be told, that isn't always the case. 

   Imagine every "friend" or "acquaintance" in your life being stupid- and no, I'm not talking about when it comes down to academics. I'm meaning in common logic and their ability to respectfully talk and interaction with those around them. Sounds terrible for someone to be stupid in those ways, right? Imagine your friends constantly stomping on you like a parade of horses- crushing you until you feel as small as a microorganism. Get the image? Now you might ask, how in the world would I know anything about this? I'm not writing this with no motivation; I am no stranger to people like this. Fellow teens, people I called my friends, have stomped on me too. Here in this article I give a short example or two of those times I have been stomped on. 

  There are many things people stomp on others for; looks, smarts, or sometimes just for no reason (which in my dictionary is jealousy.) In this encounter, I was stomped on for my looks. I'm sure some of you have heard the term 'pick me' to describe a girl before; let me tell you, they are truly tragic to experience. Let's call the girl and boy in this story "Abby" and "Arson". Three friends, hanging out in a groupchat- one of them shows Abby and Arson a drawing of a colorful fish as well as an edited eye photo. Soon enough the group chat changes course, and the discussion of eye shapes is triggered by the man -(or dare I say boy?)- of the group. Miss Abby joins in the discussion; and soon the third person of the join is being crushed in the stampede of two horses: Abby and Arson! 'Oh how dare this third person not have a totally clear face! How dare this person not be tall!' Oh my dear Abby- you are a model at heart! The third person couldn't pay a million dollars and look as good! End of story, did you get the image of what went down? Okay, okay- obviously Arson wasn't chanting those exact words like he's Shakespeare. The story is told in my view of events, I felt crushed. I felt like I was made of nothing short of a singular atom despite being made of millions of them. I cried for weeks and for hours at a time, I could have easily competed with a waterfall to see what rains the most water. Women support women- right? Oh, of course until a white man is putting down another woman in order to praise you and others! It was not hard to tell my disappointment through my actions, yet my despair was ignored by both Abby and Arson. What more could you expect from stupid people? Sadly, this would not be the last time I was crushed. And unfortunately, this was not the first time I had been. 

  My other encounters follow in the same steps as the previous one; two women, one boy. One unfortunate woman, one 'chosen' woman, one problematic man. I have been called 'fat', 'not good looking', and everything in-between. With these situations came the dropping of my grades in school, but luckily for me, I arose and made them up. My advice to any teenage girls who are the target of stupid people? Rise. Don't let people destroy what you have built- don't let them crumple your architecture. And don't forget, don't let others build yourself for you. We are given free will for a reason.