(Daily Press: April 27, 1992: Published correction ran Tuesday, April 28, 1992. The Teen Angst column in Monday's LifeStyles section was incorrectly labeled an In Your Face column.)
Today's society as a whole has draped a cloth over our heads, in order to keep us from seeing things for what they truly are. Society hopes we will see as everyone else wants us to see.
We are taught that everyone is supposed to look and act a certain way, that we are all supposed to believe in the same things. If someone deviates from the norm, then they are considered "outcasts" or "misfits" and are not accepted by society.
I think it's a tragedy and a great loss to bring up a child to think less of others because of their appearance, beliefs or sexual preference.
Everyone is taught to judge a book by its cover, why is that?
Some parents seem to think they have the right to control the lives and thoughts of their children. Telling us to conform to societal standards tells us that our future will be just as bleak as our present and our past.
I'm tired of hearing people talk about how I feel or dress is wrong, that who I am is wrong simply because some narrow-minded hypocritical parent decided to dictate to his children how people should be and how they should think.
Society's minds have grown numb thanks to the babble of politicians, the churches and televangelists. It makes me sick and sad to see the people of today so easily led by false hopes and promises.
"...the child is conditioned. Everything that the child will see on the television or will learn in school or will hear on the radio or read in the magazines, or anything that he is exposed to, is set out to form this child into a specific kind of person, one who doesn't have opinions of his own, no spirit of his own." ~Sinead O'Connor
I used to have some hope for the future. I used to believe in the freedom of religion, thought and speech. I believed I had the freedom to have an opinion, but how can that hold true when people are burning our books, telling us what we can and can't read or listen to, or see, and telling us what to do with our bodies.
I used to have some hope for the future. I used to see teachers who stressed freedom of thought and expression of the individual.
Hopefully we were all taught to stand up for ourselves and what we believe in.
What has happened to the self within us all?
People are being condemned for simply being themselves, for who they are and because of this we exist in an ignorant shallow existence that signifies nothing but our own stupidity.
"Oh, mother, father, your blindness to our most blessed gift, NATURE, leaves us with the overwhelming task of correcting your utter mess. It also proves that you are no judge of art, nor of beauty. We learn from you how to become ideal adults? Or do they question authority? Do you take the time to explain things to them, or do you blame the rest of the world for their mistakes.
"Try to restrict our freedoms and we will fight even harder to preserve them." ~Perry Ferrell, Jane's Addiction.
The hand of ignorance is gripping us all.
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Spencer, 18, is a senior at Tabb High School.
Teen Angst is a guest column for teens to discuss issues that interest them.
The column alternates weekly with In Your Face, a forum for teen's thoughts on a variety of subjects.
If you are interested in participating, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to In Your Face, Kris Worrell, Daily Press MP 1203, 7505 Warwick Blvd., Newport News, VA 23607.