Growing up as a kid in the early 90s was as easy as anything else in the world or that is at least what some would believe. It wasn't a walk in the park because we may have been born in the 90s but we're still growing up to this day. We're still coming to terms with the realities of life. We're still trying to realise what path is best for us. We're still confused about certain things and will need help along the way but fortunately as we reach our late teens we can help the next generation. Try and ensure they don't make the mistakes we did. We can also be ready for the unborn millions across the world and inform them of what to stay clear of and which opportunites need to be grapsed with both hands
Those who became teenagers in the 2000s were greeted with real hardship. The temptations were there for every one us to go off the rails with the all day drinking, the legalisation of certain drugs and the crime rates increasing. There were enough chances for us to give up on life and take one of these paths. But fortunately not all of us did. Some have tried to make the world a safer, cleaner place for the future generations. Others have stuck it out in school so they have an education to help make the world a better place. Others are smart enough already to realise how dangerous drugs, booze and crime can be.
The youth of today has a massive reputation for being intimidating and abusive, both physically and verbally. We all have this reputation because of a certain few kids and courtsey of a few narrow minded bigots who think all kids are scum. That's not the case though and there's plenty of positives to be taken out of today's youth. Something we hear very little about. The media are only interested in exploiting the worst cases to strenghten their hatred towards the young. They don't victimse a particular type of youngster, it's just the young in general. Whatever a youngster does badly, we hear about it non-stop until it becomes a national issue and every youngster is labelled like that. A girl gets pregnant before the age of twenty and all of a sudden it's a massive issue, obviously there's a certain age where pregnancy is acceptable. Despite it always being the same result. A woman carrying round another human life. Also I've personally found that in my experience young girls are much better mothers because they feel they've got to prove a point to the rest of the world down to this over hysterical media.
The way kids dress today is another of the media's favourite talking points. A group of kids could be sitting around, acting politely and causing nobody any harm but we'll still be looked at as trouble causers because we're wearing a hood or cap. It doesn't make any difference if it's chucking it down with rain either, we are fundamentally not allowed to wear hoodies because it might intimidate someone. It doesn't seem to be an issue however when a 40 year old man is wearing a hoody, that's OK. He's obviously not intimidating, but kids are. Again I can only speak from personal experience but it's the older folks wearing the hoodies who cause trouble but because hoodies are a supposed youthful fashion statement, it's the youth who take the blame time and time again.
The young lads and girls leaving school with all the right grades and exam results are also put down by the media. Every year we hear "exams are getting easier" well that doesn't matter because you've still got to put the effort in to pass them. So instead of constantly looking for any excuse to have a pop at the young how about you give them some credit for passing their exams. We don't start lowering the tone of their achivements. So they in turn shouldn't do it to ours.
They call it respect but what they fail to see is respect works both ways. If they wish to earn our respect then they have to respect to us and in turn we respect them if we wish to earn our respect. But respect isn't something you get instantly, it takes hard work to earn somebody's respect. Putting somebody down just for the sake of it is completely the wrong way of going about things. I know that because I've been on both sides.
So in conclusion certain youths/teenagers do deserve the reputation the media has labelled them as because they do cause trouble for no reason but that is only some. We're not all little tearaways who look for the smallest excuse to cause havoc. Some of us have been brought up better than that and respect ourselves as well as others and the envirnoment we live in. We are unjustly labelled as scum because of those select few. I'm hugely disappointed to see such fascists still existing in the modern world.
Billy Green.
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