Magazine, website & books written by teens since 1989

Two Pet Peeves: Ignorance and Pressure

Someone told me to write about things that tick me off. You want to know what makes me ticked? Ignorance. What else? Pressure. You want me to elaborate? Well, just so you know once I get going it's hard to stop.

Okay let's just start with ignorance. There are endless examples of ignorance at work. I could single out every type in the book. But I'll simply focus on two. For one, there's racial ignorance. I know you've heard it a million times before. The line "A man should be judged not by the color of his skin but by the actions of his heart." Never seems to get old. But in all fairness, that quote holds a great truth. Think about it. There's always that racist uncle that makes everybody uncomfortable when he gets on the subject of 'those damn niggers'. Even that sentence causes uncomfortability. Am I right? So, if there's a guilty feeling every time someone let's out a racist comment... don't you think that should tell you something? Think real hard and if you can't think of what that could be I'll let you know: Racism is wrong. Flat out. You know, I've met black people who don't do drugs, and Mexicans who actually work for a decent salary. Is that shocking? If so, you probably have racial stereotyping to blame. That's just one kind of ignorance that, quite frankly, we've all heard about a million times over. So, I'll drop the sermon and move on.

Who's heard of religious ignorance? (Hands go up all around.) This is just one thing we all need to do our homework on. Okay. Because people always tend to jump to conclusions about every religion out there. I'm sure you think all Buddhists are bald Asians right? (Buzzer rings.) Wrong! I know a half Caucasian, half Mexican Buddhist. Not possible? I'm sure most of you would assume that anyways. But let me open your eyes here folks: not everything is what we make it out to be. Oh and when we hear the word 'Christian' what will most of you picture? That hypocritical, stuffy, judgemental, snob that constantly preaches about how everyone that's not like them is going to hell. Am I right? Honestly, that's what the world has portrayed Christians to be. But here's a little secret: I'm a Christian. I'm here to say that although I'm a Christian I believe that any religion you are is okay... I believe that as long as you are a good person and have a close relationship to whatever God you worship you will end up in heaven. I'm a Christian who honestly doesn't care if you lesbian, bi, gay, or transgender. I don't think who you are should not be defined by your sexuality. In fact I think that it's not a choice! I'm not snotty, or one to judge. Now isn't that a shock? It's okay if this shocks you, but hey, that's just another example of religious ignorance. To be clear, being ignorant, although it ticks me off sometimes, doesn't mean you're stupid. It just means you don't know... you weren't aware that things aren't what you thought they were. But that's what I'm here for. I'm here to open your eyes. (Kid in the back claps his hands... alone.)

Okay... enough of ignorance because I bet if feels like I'm lecturing you. Believe me, I'm only half lecturing. Meaning this is only a lecture if you completely disagree with everything I'm saying. By the way if that is true for you, please be my guest to read something else.

So for those of you who are still reading, let's get started on one of the top two things that tick me off: pressure. No, I'm not talking peer pressure. Surely after D.A.R.E class you learned to 'say no'. Even if some of you, myself included, didn't bother to listen. I'm talking about the pressure to be perfect. This, will mainly be for girls. Only because I'm a girl and this will seem very one sided if you are a guy. Sorry, but I don't know what it's like to be a male so don't expect me to. Anyways, I guess when I say 'the pressure to be perfect' it could mean a lot of things. So let me verify. I mean the pressure to have a super model body, get a 4.0 GPA, be cheerily charismatic, have some kind of hidden talent to impress people with, and somehow still have room in the brain you only use 1/10 power of to know all the beauty secrets so you can look your absolute best all the time. Oh and let's not forget we have to know how to handle all this. We have to accept things as they are, girls will always have to work 100 times harder to get where and what they want in life. That's how it is and that's how it's always seemed to be. I mean, let's look at the fifties. A hard time for women and blacks. While white men seemed to just cruise by knowing they were taken care of. Am I right? Now, it's a little more even at chance. But women have all these issues to take care of. Especially in today's society. When women produce estrogen, when they hit puberty, they start to change in a lot of ways. For one thing, the naturally get curvy. Not like guys who produce testosterone, therefore automatically being more physically capable. For guys it's easier to get in shape and have that amazing body. Every loser and his father have a six pack when they hit puberty. But with girls, it's harder. We get bigger. Our monthly gift gets in the way. Our breasts either get in the way, or for a lucky few (me being one of them) they just seem to stunt in growth. But back to my point... what was that again? Oh yeah, women are pressured to be perfect. Let's just start with the first one. The pressure to have super model body when every part of you is fighting that. I mean just look at the media. Size 5 and shrinking. Grown women weighing in at 120 or lower. Now,
for most of us. The road we take to be acceptable in this way is long, painful, and hard. For one, you can't tell me you get to be 120 as a grown woman without missing a few meals. Or puking them up. So ladies as we're basking in the glory of working out and starving, we're also faced with the pressure to have a 4.0 GPA.

To be honest, I have only recently been faced with this problem and it's already stressing me out beyond belief. I mean, our entire future is resting on our grades. How we make a living will be determined by our study habits. ("Yay." says the slacker with bitter sarcasm.) Isn't that wonderful? Oh and while we're already juggling those things, let's throw on having cheery charisma. I struggle with this a lot. I mean, girls are dramatic and bluntly... a little stupid. So I can't be cheery around the girls at my school simply because they disappoint me. Oh, and most of the guys are idiots. I'm not saying they're all like this, but quite a few are so that makes me a very anti-social girl. Okay, the hidden talent that we are all expected to have. Honestly there are just some of us that have no talent. We're just regular people. Is that so bad? Life isn't a romantic comedy! Sorry guys but don't expect every girl you date to be able to tie a knot with a cherry stem using their tongue. Or recite Shakespeare. Or sing, or cook, or write, or anything else that comes to mind. Some of us are just average. Sorry.

Girls face a lot of pressure. The world is faced with a lot of ignorance. Those are just two of the things that really get me heated. So hopefully you have learned something from my article. (Wasn't really an article, just a venting mechanism.) If not, oh well, surely you haven't wasted too much of your magically thrilling life.

Post a Comment

Be the first to comment on this article!

Site Feedback