What Concerns Teenagers

      The adolescence is the most turbulent and treacherous stage of life. The high speed of all physical and psychological changes make teenagers' life not very well directioned, and most of them act very impulsively. But lots of time that reckless actitude is extended to all young people, what I find very annoying. In my opinion there are teens that don't think too much before acting, but there are also teenagers that are more rational. Some teenagers, mostly boys, don't act their age, and their worries are not very deep. But as adolescence is the phase where image is most important, where is the difference between being shallow and sensible?

      The issue that most concerns me is the future: studies, work, love, ecology... With all my life in front of me, I want to make sure that my future is going to be stable. In this time of crisis and uncertainity the studies you do and the education you have may be very influential in the work you get. The labor market has really dark prospects, and I'm quite cynical about it. However, I'm getting quite good marks at school, so I'm quite upbeat about university. I'm not about the degree I want to study as I was a few months ago, but I don't consider it very important.

      I think most teenagers are really concerned about what is going to happen the next years. It's true that we tend to think about the inmediate than others, but we take the future really seriously. Sounds quite extrange, because we are thought to be more impulsive, but in my opinion teenagers care more about the tomorrow than people think.

     

Malala Yousufzai

      Malala, a 14 year old girl from Pakistan, was shot down two weeks ago by the Taliban. In the name of God and the ancient local culture, this kind of events are getting more and more frequent, and the rate of violations of the human rights is becoming alarmingly high.

      First of all, I would like to say I am not against any culture or society; as a member of a minor culture, I know how important tolerance is. But human rights are above all cultural or racial feelings. No cause is fair or important enough to kill somebody. As I said, I am completely in favor of defending your own culture and lifestyle, but that must be done in peace, and the only way is through respect and mutual understanding.

      In my opinion, Taliban have lost (if they did not lose it before) any right to discuss their ideas on that issue. They will say that is God’s will. However, I wonder if they think about the fact that shooting a girl just because she defended her right to go to school is a good way to share their thoughts, as it only inspires fear and hat towards them. They should wonder if a regimen that has to be protected by murdering innocent people is legitimated.

     In my opinion, they tried to murder that girl just because religious and political fanaticism and I am sure that every democratic and respectful person will be horrified by this cruel action.

Dear Alexander

Dear Alexander:

     I hope that’s your name now :). Happy Birthday! How are you doing? Where are you? Are you in the States, or did you decide to stay at home? Hope you’re not alone... I have great expectations on you. I think my life nowadays is really nice, and my prospects for the next years are quite upbeat.

     What are you doing? Being 22, I hope you’re still studying. Are you doing Astrophysics, or are you studying any other type of Physics? I’m writing this letter wondering what am I going to do at University. Hope you’ve no problems and you’re happy with your choice.

     And love? Are you still a naïve romantic boy, or life has given you too much lemons to make lemonade, and you’re a common guy now? Hope not; I hope you still believe in fairytales and storybook love. Do you still listen to TS and Boyce Avenue? Well, I’m really looking forward “Red” right now, so I don’t know if she’s a storyteller or a plain pop Singer.

     Hope you’re doing well, and you’re not alone. Don’t remember me as your posh and shallow past.

Keep writing your fairytale

Best wishes, and be ourself

You at 2012

Being 16

      I was in the park with a friend yesterday morning, and as we were walking we had to dodge all the bottles and broken glasses that Euskal Jaiak had left. A man was sitting there, and was staring at us as if we were guilty of that mess, just because we were 16.

      On the one hand, teenagers have that amazing feeling of freedom; we’re not already children, so we are able to travel abroad, stay out until late... And as we are not adults yet, we are free of most of the responsibilities a common person has. We are just expected to study and not causing much trouble.

       On the other hand, there are tons of negative prejudices towards teenagers: at some people’s eyes, we’re just senseless and shallow-minded children that get drunk every weekend, make much noise and whose only objective in life is to have fun... Personally, I find it really annoying to be classified like that.

       In my opinion, being 16 is great. If we met our objectives, it’s the age of having fun and hanging out. And if some people are too stubborn to see we’re not little monsters, I think the best we can do it’s just ignore them and be, just, young.