High School.
Where young men and women are stripped of their individualism.
Where standing out is
key, but how can one stand out in such a toxic environment?
A place where your every move is watched under close radar,
and dissected under a magnified glass.
You like gauge earrings? Dying
your hair red? Your genetics impact your
body weight, and you can’t be as skinny as the other girls? Your parents can’t afford to spend two
hundred dollars on a single pair of jeans?
You aren’t first string on the Football team; you can’t clear a double
on your dirt bike. You like Ed
Hardy? You won’t smoke or drink.
These are only a few of the things that a student can do to
automatically put themselves in the category of ‘Social Suicide’.
Trust and acceptance are thrown out the window.
Lone Peak is a school with excellent extra-curricular programs,
awesome teachers, and all the most talented High School sports athletes in the
state of Utah.
But the pressure here is so immense, that some end up cracking
under all the tension.
Three suicides last year, if that wasn’t a red flag, what
will be?
What will it take for teenagers to learn that their social
status’ aren’t everything, and accepting everyone is the only way we can survive
these three years of brutal judgment they call “High School”.
The few years when you should be having the care-free time
of your life, have in reality been the hardest years of my life so far. But Lone Peak isn’t the only school with
pressures. Every High School carries the
weight of being perfect, one mistake and you can lose all your friends, and
feel completely rejected.
If anyone is reading this, I hope you do something to help stop
this horrible cycle. I don’t know about
you, but I sure hope my kids don’t have to go through even half of the hell I have
had to go through to feel accepted during my High School years.
