What does “teenager” bring to mind? Troublemaker? Irresponsible? I think a lot of people view teenagers badly, though I can’t always blame them for seeing us that way (since I’m a teen myself). Teens can be difficult. Nonetheless, we aren’t all that bad.
It seems that we become teens and people instantly expect bad things. They have low expectations and because of this, people have lowered the standards to match those expectations. People rarely rise above what is expected of them to get by.
Can anything great be expected from teenagers after they become adults, when people don’t expect anything from them now? What happened to raising boys to be gentlemen and girls to see they have worth? What about raising young people to be leaders, in any area, by learning to serve and be self-disciplined? “Teenager” should bring to mind “problem-solvers,” “leaders,” and “world-changers”!
The world has lied to us: We don’t have to wait till we’re older to change things and we can’t afford to waste these years! Do you think it’s OK for us to accept the idea that the teen years are years to party and that the things we do now won’t affect the rest of our lives? No, because this is our “launching point” for the rest of our lives! I am blessed with a life filled with people who do hold me to higher standards. Even then, I choose to raise my own standards to become the young woman that I, as a Christian, know God wants me to be.
We need the standards to be higher (in everything from cleaning our rooms and doing our schoolwork well to getting involved in big things and fighting for big causes)! We have so much potential, so start making standards like you believe we really do!
Julie Carlson
Marysville
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