-John Ciardi.
(Angsty teenage prose! Gasp.)
(Hang in there...it gets better towards the end, I promise.)
To Be An Adolescent,
you must:-Be as strong-willed and beautiful and intelligent and full of ideas and blossoming creativity as you ever will be for the rest of your life, but with more inhibitions and/or outside forces blocking you than you will ever face again.
-Spend hours sitting fairly still at an uncomfortable desk with some uninspiring, unfulfilling, mindless task ahead of you, and instead choose to focus your concentration on allowing the deepest reaches of your unconscious mind to bring fluid images of light and beauty and happiness to the forefront of your imagination...only to be told off minutes later for daydreaming in class.
-Face the dire consequences if you actually point out how pointless the required task happens to be, and even worse penalities if you dare to suggest a way it might be altered to become a better use of your time.
-Have an unbounded sexual drive and nowhere to channel it.
-Put up with countless adults clogging your precious space and urging you to "do something with your life" when all you want and all you need is some peace and a chance to figure out what it is you really want to do with your life.
-Live with the fact that no matter how many times you're told "Be responsible for yourself, no one's going to look after you when you're older," if you ever actually do something for which you yourself are completely to blame, you won't even have the power to take care of your problems and accept the blame for your actions yourself; the law will instead fall hardest on your parents.
-Take each blow and each drawback life throws your way or tries to ensnare you with and remain standing upright, rooted, strong; a living, breathing embodiment of free-spirited youth in all its angst-ridden glory.
-Cherish the time you spend with your friends as you form some of the closest relationships outside of your family you will ever have.
-Notice how bright and keen and appreciative your senses are--how soft soft is and how blue the sky can be and how love and laughter and good music flow through your veins and fill your heart in a way few other things can.
-Always, always remember--more importantly than anything you could possibly be taught--that no matter who or where you are, you are loved beyond compare and the people standing around you are secretly constantly breathless, even teary-eyed with rapture as they watch you grow and mature and effloresce into the amazing persona with which you will entrance and delight the world for the rest of your blessed, precious life.
Words by Sun.Moon.Stars.Rain
Read 735 times
Written on 2009-06-28 at 05:08
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Nick Matherne |
