"What's wrong with the world, mama?"

When I get "blogger's block," I've found that a large bit of inspiration can come from watching all the things that go on in high school. High school offers a MILLION discussion topics, some of which really should be left to the professionals. But one observation has been sticking out like a sore thumb:

It seems that a lot of people are just getting SICK of each other.

These past few weeks have been full of a good number of people bickering, gossiping, shooting dirty looks, "he said that you said that she told her that blah blah blah..." and I'M getting about sick of it.

It's about ridiculous things, too. . .

"I don't know why she gave me that dirty look, and though there is a strong probability that she was only squinting in the sun when she happened to glance at me, I am going to assume that she hates me, and I'm going to Facebook about it and tell all my friends how ridiculous her wardrobe looks and how she probably sleeps with the whole football team."

"Man, this dude in my girlfriend's Biology class keeps talking to her, and even though he's probably just being friendly, I'm going to allow my insecurities about my relationship get the best of me, get ridiculously jealous, and tell HER to tell HIM to step off before I get in his face and act like I'm going to beat him to a bloody pulp."

(or, for you ladies...)

"I can't believe he decided to go to hang out with the guys instead of hanging out with me on our 3-month, 24th-day, 5-hour anniversary! I know deep down that my insecurities about my relationship could one day break it apart, but I'm still going to harass and nag him about my attention needs until he feels obliged to cancel his life for me."

ugh. BLECH. hack. As ridiculous as that stuff sounds, similar and no-less-exaggerated situations happen every day in our high school. Some of you are involved in it, however subconciously. Does it disgust you to see the pure nonsense of it all? It should. Do you grow uneasy as you realize that, to some degree, YOU might be one of the ones that get all worked up over nothing? You should.

We seem to revel in all this crud that can be summed up in one very overused word: drama.

It seems that one of our goals as seniors, or ANY high school grade really, would be to do everything in our power to stop this hormone-driven craziness that's been going on since about 7th grade. If we don't, harmless words will turn into knives and start tearing at bonds and friendships that have been around far too long to be destroyed by petty things.
And believe it or not, in the extreme cases, deep depression and even suicide can result.

So what can we do? We can think about the things that we do daily that fit in the "drama" category. We can think about the way we talk to people, the conversations we participate in, and how often we let your emotions take control of your actions. We can't let our minds get consumed in the hormones. While I realize that there are sometimes that you just absolutely can't avoid being sucked into some situations to a certain extent, there ARE mature ways that we can deal with it without spreading the fire. Once we all start to figure those things out, we might all start being friends again.

If I've offended anyone, I humbly apologize, its nothing personal, but I'm going to repectfully say that perhaps you needed to be offended.

Until next time, take it easy folks.

-jake