Oftentimes, people wonder where they come from and begin to search for who they are. They think culture changes — who they are will make them unique. I, on the other hand, believe my culture is the same as basically every other teenage girl’s who has been raised in this generation. We buy things we don’t need with the money we don’t have to impress the people we don’t like. Our lives would be completely different if we were tight with money, ate more home-cooked meals and were truer to both ourselves and others.
As a teenage girl, I know what it’s like to not have the newest, most expensive brands around. “Mom, I need it … Everyone else has one!” is a commonly used phrase in a house with a teenage daughter. The problem is that we grew up getting everything we wanted when we were little.
Eventually, we grew up and our list of wants grew as well. Unlike toys and crayons, the things we want nowadays are more of necessities than wants. Unfortunately, one never settles with a simple flip phone or jeans from your local shop. Teenagers always go for the newest gadgets, like the iPhone 6, and the name brand clothes like Abercrombie & Fitch. If we spent a little less money on the things we want and a little more time appreciating the things we have, I think we could become more respectful.
Grocery shopping becomes a hassle when you’re busy running your teenager to and from school, practice, detention, and many other things. Fast food is so much more convenient that, oftentimes, you end up eating it almost every night. Teenagers need healthy foods to help their already growing bodies become strong. By eating fast foods, teenagers are missing lots of nutrients necessary for proper health. You never hear someone ask for a home-cooked meal anymore, it’s always “the usual” from your most commonly attended fast food restaurant. If our generation had more home-cooked meals and less fast food, we could reduce obesity now as well as for future generations.
Being a true friend doesn’t mean anything to anyone nowadays. You could go your whole life thinking someone you’re with every day is trustworthy and loyal, only to find out one day that they aren’t anything you thought they were. People can’t be honest with themselves anymore and lying to yourself makes it that much easier to lie to others.
I’ve had plenty of people come and go in my life, and as some would say, “some are cigarette breaks, others are forest fires.” There’s been people who walked in and walked right back out of my life, and there’s been people who walked in, stayed for a while, then packed up and left. Either way, I held the door open because this generation’s culture has taught me one thing; never let your happiness rely on others because you’ll only be let down.
As you can tell, I don’t think highly of this generation’s culture. Not only are we terrible friends, we are terrible people. All of this may be a part of growing up though. We need to learn about the difficulties of money before we are on our own and can’t figure out whether we want heat for the month or that new Gucci jacket we saw on TV. We need to learn how to cook before we have our own kids with no money to spend on anything other than necessities. Last, but not least, we need to learn how to treat other people so the next generation’s culture won’t be as cruel as this one because nobody wants to see their children upset.
I speak for many when I say this: as children, we needed more “no” and less “if it will shut you up.” Those who judge us forget who raised us.
Taylor, a sophomore at Hodgdon High School, wrote this commentary for Mrs. Mills’ World Literature class.
