Teenagers are not beautiful the same way a beaming child or a sonnet is. They are not as spiritually open or composed as we want them to be and they are frustrating, conceited, and heartbreaking to know, love, and be.
Historically we have always struggled with teenagers. I don't believe this is just because they are unstable and rebellious and in their striving to be their own person, they cut attachments so readily and without the significance we demand they recognize. Perhaps we struggle with teenagers so much because we actively buried that part of us like a failed experiment, and it is uncomfortable to see it alive and spiting you, still. And we bury these years with good reason, too. If we weren't cruel, angsty, self-absorbed, and dramatic we were probably lost, insecure, self-deprecating, and awkward. We have to have been something like this because nobody hits puberty and instantly evolves in to an understanding, functional adult without first challenging their surroundings and persona. Rome wasn't built in a day, and while some of us made it easier on others, it was still never easy to be who you were in such an essentially divided world.
Middle ground is shaky because it is only held up by the ideals of it's counter parts and inhabitants- in this case, adolescence and adulthood. Pre-teens are mortifying and we could try and convince ourselves that out generation was something else but in reality we were only caught in different streams to swim up, to leap and fly like salmon once we are no longer content being loss idly in our masses.
To be mortified and to still overcome it with a sense of humor reflects an understanding of the process which got you through it. Mike Mayer's documentary on the entertaining and empowering Mortified movement, Mortified Nation, showcases this very sentiment. I saw this film and was reminded as to why I chose to work and volunteer with pre-teens and teens when I could- there is something about them and about that stage of life that is so consistently interesting and inspiring to me.
They are not beautiful like a sonnet, but rather they are challenging and rewarding like a free-verse experimental prose piece. And yet, I am ashamed to admit that I, too, demand structure- I would take a sonnet over an experimental art piece screaming at me behind fragmented verse any day, and I am prone to expecting poetry to take the dignified shape of the mature sonnet, regardless of intent.
Teenagers exist in this world that is consistently trying to pull and tweek and mold them in this middle ground they inhabit. Teenagers are difficult people, but I have seen more capability and passion in them than I ever thought possible when I was that age. Seeing adults in Mortified Nation bring back to life those awkward, cringe-worthy people of their pasts validates the person they used to be, and though I am hardly more than a teen myself, at 22 years, nonetheless I felt inspired by the Mortified movement's ways of giving validation to our buried pasts.
If teens can better themselves even through the shadows thrown like shame around them, then how difficult can it be, really, having grown up and become comfortable in your own skin, to share part of this experience with others? To be mortified is to see how far you have come, to perform in Mortified is to show yourself and others that you haven't forgotten that struggling, fire-spitting teen but rather appreciate them for their sticking it through.
Historically we have always struggled with teenagers. I don't believe this is just because they are unstable and rebellious and in their striving to be their own person, they cut attachments so readily and without the significance we demand they recognize. Perhaps we struggle with teenagers so much because we actively buried that part of us like a failed experiment, and it is uncomfortable to see it alive and spiting you, still. And we bury these years with good reason, too. If we weren't cruel, angsty, self-absorbed, and dramatic we were probably lost, insecure, self-deprecating, and awkward. We have to have been something like this because nobody hits puberty and instantly evolves in to an understanding, functional adult without first challenging their surroundings and persona. Rome wasn't built in a day, and while some of us made it easier on others, it was still never easy to be who you were in such an essentially divided world.
Middle ground is shaky because it is only held up by the ideals of it's counter parts and inhabitants- in this case, adolescence and adulthood. Pre-teens are mortifying and we could try and convince ourselves that out generation was something else but in reality we were only caught in different streams to swim up, to leap and fly like salmon once we are no longer content being loss idly in our masses.
They are not beautiful like a sonnet, but rather they are challenging and rewarding like a free-verse experimental prose piece. And yet, I am ashamed to admit that I, too, demand structure- I would take a sonnet over an experimental art piece screaming at me behind fragmented verse any day, and I am prone to expecting poetry to take the dignified shape of the mature sonnet, regardless of intent.
Teenagers exist in this world that is consistently trying to pull and tweek and mold them in this middle ground they inhabit. Teenagers are difficult people, but I have seen more capability and passion in them than I ever thought possible when I was that age. Seeing adults in Mortified Nation bring back to life those awkward, cringe-worthy people of their pasts validates the person they used to be, and though I am hardly more than a teen myself, at 22 years, nonetheless I felt inspired by the Mortified movement's ways of giving validation to our buried pasts.
If teens can better themselves even through the shadows thrown like shame around them, then how difficult can it be, really, having grown up and become comfortable in your own skin, to share part of this experience with others? To be mortified is to see how far you have come, to perform in Mortified is to show yourself and others that you haven't forgotten that struggling, fire-spitting teen but rather appreciate them for their sticking it through.
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