The Hell we call High School
    When you're growing up you feel like the world is on your shoulders, like every decision you make is the most monumental decision of your life. Choosing who to date and who to be friends with and what things to be involved in define who you are as an early adolescent. But of course we 'adolescents' don't think of ourselves as impressionable teenagers. We see getting one year older as a free ticket to be as irresponsible and as stupid as possible. We see freedom as our only gateway to a good time. We see graduation as the great release into the beginning of life as we know it. But what we don't know is that who we choose to be now, in this year, in this very moment of life is the the very beginning to what we believe to be the beginning of life.
        High school is our beginning. The drama filled, insane world we travel to 5 days a week for 7 hours at a time, if not more, to be locked in small rooms with people who are going through the exact same hormonal imbalances as we are. Emotions are off the charts and thoughts and actions are impaired by high testosterone and estrogen levels. Girls hate each other out of spite and jealousy while boys constantly battle to feel strong smart and important. But what the parents and coaches and teachers see as 'just high school' is actually the tenth circle of hell that tests restraint, from punching that bitch who sits next to you in calculus, patience for the overly dramatic friend who always seems to have a new crisis to behold, and smart decision making on whether or not to take that shot of vodka that burnout offered you in the bathroom this morning. Yes, the tenth circle of hell comfortabley nestled between the woods and the main highway running through your sleepy little town. Parents beware, your children aren't who they think they are and they might not turn out how you've always dreamed of. Because the truth is that we have no idea what the hell we are doing. We go by the schedule you have created for us. We go by a set of rules enforced at an early age. We go by silent rules that are expected of us also, and that is worth more than $20 a week and a 9:30 curfew.
~Bea~