The Teenage Dilemma

Youth.


Officially, the age for youths are somewhere around 18 to 35. If you’re older than that, you’re an adult. Or a senior citizen. Or let’s start from the beginning, shall we. Babies aged 1 day old to 1 year old are considered… babies. Duh.

For those aged around 2-6, you’re considered a toddler. 7 to 12, a child. There, we’re done. Or are we really?

If you have noticed what’s missing, you are, most probably, one of US. The teens. The oh-so-important age group, yet the least important group of all. I bet many of you readers have many things to say about this, but let’s skip them for a moment because we have heard them many times already.

For those who are slightly (only slightly!) ignorant, let me tell you our real problem, ok. It’s the lack of representatives. Don’t understand? Let me show you an example. In parliament, we have parliamentarians that are already senior citizens. There are adult parliamentarians, youth parliamentarians. They understand their own age group problems and can voice out on behalf. You might add, but what about the teens, the children and the toddlers? Ah, that’s where the problems start. For the children, toddlers and babies, there are many NGOs out there fighting against child abuse and for children rights already. Insufficient, I know, but it’s something.

But what about us? Officially, we’re still considered children, as stated in the Universal Declaration of Children Rights. But many children NGOs, such as UNICEF (google it) have no time for us. Why? Because the children, and I mean those aged 2 to 12, are having too much problems already. Fair enough. But again, what about us? Where does this leave us?

Nowhere, my friends. Nowhere. In many articles, we are labeled as gangsters. Thieves. People who laze about doing nothing. People who can’t think for themselves. They urge parents to stop focusing on money and give their children more time and attention. But do you see anything done? No. Parents continue working, certain teens begin rotting and becoming gangsters, and fingers start pointing at us. Again. It doesn’t matter if you are a bookworm or a drug-taking teen, if you’re a teenager, you’re a Bad Person.

And so, my argument is this. If we can’t have our own representatives, or there is simply a lack of them, this is what society needs to do: Consider us as part of youth.

No, seriously, listen. If the situation remains like this, fingers will continue pointing at us, and everyone will be to lazy to do anything about it. But, if we are considered as part of the youth, when fingers start pointing, they will pointing at youth as a whole, not just us. And the current youth will have to sit up and do something about it.

Or I’ll make them.


Terence Wang is considering tearing up the next article he sees that labels teens as ‘bad’.