What Should I Do?

There’s no good advice, but lots of people do feel like you do. Teen years are not easy now, nor were they easy 50 years ago, nor will they be easy 50 years from now. Being a teen usually means you have good health and lots of productive and fun things to do. Adults see this and become jealous of all the youth, and so decide to be insensitive.

Yet really, the social predators and wolves and worms, alongside the hypocrites who want to prescribe how everyone else should conduct their business, come down harder on teenagers than at any other age. This is a special problem because often the wolves have power–to issue grades, to hire, and so on–that forces young folks to deal with them anyway.

I don’t know what the answer is–maybe you can put a thumbtack on their seat when they’re not looking, and smile because they really deserve it. There’s probably no need to live up to someone else’s standards, more than absolutely necessary, if they’re a wolf or a worm or a hypocrite.

Luckily there are people who try to rise above the mess, who can help you. No one here can find them for you, but they are there, somewhere nearby. Suicidal feelings don’t always disappear with age either, only the reasons for wanting to self-harm change. In middle life, marriages and finances. In late life, declining health. Some people are just more susceptible to having these thoughts, perhaps from genes or early life situations.

You’re always welcome to leave news and thoughts here.