Relationships, Drink and Drugs

When I was about 12 in an all boys school, I began to notice a change in some of my peers and myself. This was of course adolescence and we had started to notice that girls were not 'cootie infested' sacks, but actual people of whom it felt good to be with. Since then I have always thought that when a friend goes "I have a girlfriend", I am inclined to disagree.

First, what is a girlfriend? Well it could be many things such as: soulmate, bunkmate, confidante, big sister or simply a girl who is your friend. Well this last point could be actually what my friend meant, but of course he wouldn't want anyone to know that would he! Anywho when you are a teenager everyone feels they not only want but NEED a girlfriend. This is where it gets a bit stupid as boys may need girlfriends for a variety of reasons such as sexual object or being shown off or just in order to win a bet. These are some of the reasons why I have chosen not to have a girlfriend until I am older. No, I am not a reclusive loner; however I do believe that in time that I do not require, so to speak, a girlfriend. Of course don't mean girlfriend in the girl as a friend sense (this is where it gets confusing). What I do mean is the romantic bit. Too often I have seen relationships lasting days and the girl ending up crying as if they were soulmates and were 'meant to be' or a boy who seems so insanely depressed that he feels he needs to kill himself.

No, I will not allow myself to go down that road. I think it is stupid to start having so called relationships before you are even 16. I mean what the hell can you even do before you are 16? Your parents don't let you out, which makes you feel like an idiot in front of your friends, who all claim they are going out and yet they are fearing that you think they are the idiots who can't go out late. Even if you do manage to go out late (usually until 9pm) what are you going to do with your girlfriend? Take her out to a movie? Well yeah thats very special. Younger teenagers are to young to have to worry about having a girlfriend and going out many times a week can cause grades to drop when they really matter. I mean why not wait until you have lots of free time, like when you are at uni and then you are able to have proper romantic and sexual relationships with people rather than these excuses for romance, which ends up you inviting all your mates to the cinema, whilst she invites all hers.

So it really annoys me when I hear about people breaking into tears after going out for a week and feeling they won't be able to go on without him or her and then after the weekend party they pulled some other guy and girl and are now happily in a relationship that will last another week. Honestly, wait until you have some maturity and long term goal, before you start getting into something that at age 14 is simply ridiculous!

By changing some of the new 'rules' of society that mean that young girls are sexualised very early by advertising and tv, we could stop the culture that has erupted out of the next generation after the swinging 60s. Move over Lion King, this is the new circle of life: girl aged 10 sees advertisement for some beauty product of an anorexic woman padded with inches of makeup and looks in the mirror and wonders why she can't look like that. She looks at 'fashion' magazines like OK and sees that the latest 'fashion' is skimpy skirts and bras. So this girl goes to school looking like a, excuse the language, tart, and ends up having boys lusting for her, at age 10! This is what is happening in this day and age, which is leading to, in later teenage years, rising abortion rates and unwanted pregnancies and most importantly underage sex, which is contributing to the rise in STDs as teenagers are not mature enough to take responsible precautions by using a condom or by drinking before hand.

I think that drinking and these 'relationships' are related as I know many people who go to a 'house party' very Saturday night. We know the kind; the kind where parents go off on holiday and come back to see the house burnt down and their son or daughter in custody. Anywho underage drinking occurs at these venues, because we have all heard the story of the older brother or sister who buys alcohol for the younger one so they can look 'cool'. These are the places I watch out for and always say no to any invitations, because I know of the stories of gate crashing and drunkenness and underage sex. This in noway is good for the people of tomorrow, because drinking at an early age can cause liver problems and alcoholism in later life. As well as this drugs are usually taken in the 'garden' (you know the secluded place where all the drug taking socialites get together). I have heard stories of all sorts of drugs being taken and many have become addicts of certain drugs. This can bring about the obvious problems such as addiction, but each drug has its own problem, which will cause major illnesses in later life. There is also the infamous smokers corner who are the less hardcore than the drug taking socialites, but still are threatening themselves and those around them (lung cancer and second hand smoking).

I think that these issues need to be addressed. There is a major problem that only teenagers know about and it needs to get out and get sorted out. I don't mean that we become a Victorian society, but I do feel that there has to be FAR more parental discipline and guidance to ensure that these activities are controlled to some degree and that their children make the right choices in life, even though they have barely started it.