American Literature

Matthew Schumacher

13 October, 2015

Mrs. Schwartz

American Literature

Prompt 4

        A very important issue I see running through almost every single teenager in the world me is the assumed requirement and need to be in a relationship with someone of the opposite sex. More than grades, more than classes, more than teachers, more than the lunch menu, more than friends, more than sports, and more than their own personal walk and relationship with God their creator, is this subject that is spoken of much more than ANY of those things listed above. Phrases like “I’m single”,  “She’s taken”,  “He’s hot”,  “She’s beautiful”, “He’s a cheater”,  “I’m lonely”, “She’s lucky”,  “He’s popular”,  “She’s dating”, and “He’s looking at me” constantly floor our minds because our culture today has molded us into a generation of young adults who see it as necessary to base our self-worth on whether or not we can find someone to be in a serious relationship with.

        Now I’m NOT saying that having a relationship in High School is bad whatsoever! I say this just because I too used to be that guy that made the same mistake, and went into every day of SCHOOL as a new opportunity to see what new relationship I could get into. I soon lost the actual meaning of going to school, which was most importantly, to grow closer to God through learning about him, and I secondly lost the meaning of what it was like to have a great group of true friends that automatically removed the so called “necessity” of having a girlfriend in my life. What I’m trying to get at and what I see as a major issue in the teenagers around me is the fact that they are firstly, basing their self-worth and social status on whether or not they can have a boyfriend or girlfriend in such a limited group of options, such as our tiny high school in San Diego, and secondly, hurting THEMSELVES in the process by putting every single ounce of effort into forcing relationships, resulting in missing out on so many more important things like their Christian faith, their true friends around them, their family, their grades, and their general happiness.