Seventeen

Okay, was being 17 so difficult just five years ago when we, well most of us, were that age? I remember it being pretty good. Being midway through Junior year I think the biggest concern was junior prom, maybe a rough english class, or surviving after school sports. Not drugs or sex. Maybe it was just because the people I befriended just knew at a young age that drugs were stupid, drinking too. And sex. Yes, sexual tension exsisted in high school, but I don't think many of us, if any, were sexually active. Granted, there were those couples who had been together since kindergarten, who we all figured were bumpin' uglies, but the majority of us knew sex just complicated the already crazy high school drama. Sex is complicated enough after high school, even in marriage. Don't get me wrong, sex is an important thing for husband and wife, but with all the other demands in life, it can get stressful to even be intimate, but I can't imagine being 17, sexually active with different partners, thinking you are "in love" with the current partner, and then mixing alcohol and drugs into that. Why? I am just amazed at how sex is considered now, after just five years, sex is just a common thing you do with some random person you meet on the bus, or in the exotic cheese section of the supermarket. I hate it. I can't imagine the changes that will occur in just five more years. Then in ten years after that?! How will we explain to our teenage children that sex is great, but only when it's with that person who you love more than anything, AFTER graduation and in marriage. I will admit, I did not wait for marriage, and that really screwed me up. I became lost in the world of "love" and ended up in a situation I regret. But now after meeting my real love, Dustin, I know the difference between sex and intimacy and preffer the latter. You may be wondering, "Uh, what in the world is going on in crazy Amanda's head?" But there is a situation in which a seventeen year old girl I know very well has become sexually involved with a twenty three year old. I am so very worried about what this may do for her sanity when she is older, but now I am even more worried because she has made comments involving drugs and alcohol. Her parents do not allow her to drink and they would go bizerk if they found out she'd been getting into the drug world. Not only that, but lying about where she is and what she is doing. I am just worried about her, but am unsure about what to do. Do teens today not realize everything you do has a consequence, good or bad? They don't realize, "Oh, if I take a hit on this bong, could I possibly be subjected to a random drug test at work and loose my job?" Or "Hmm... If I have sex now, at 17, and get pregnant, will I be able to finish school and be able to raise my child as a single mom?" No. It's a here and now world. I have it here and I want it now. I'm just shocked about this situation. It just makes me even more grateful for my close friends in high school. My Spice Girl friends in Elementary School, or the friend who I used to walk to Sconecutter's with every once in a while, or the friend who convinced me to try and shove myself into her dog's kennel to see if I fit. That was our fun. Or surviving freshman track season with a crazy, Nazi coach, who we all really liked, but hated when it was raining outside. We would spend Friday nights just hanging out at someone's house watching movies or playing RISK. Hmm... So to all of my junior high and high school friends, Thank you for being a positive influence and thank you for always being there for me. I really do appreciate and miss the closeness we had. Thanks guys!