Teen Seeks Answers to Painful Issues

By Alexis DaLessio

It’s all about family and feelings, the way our parents teach us about being
loved and how to love somebody-and especially to love ourselves.

This story is about a teenager who I’m going to call Hope.

She is my friend. She likes to go to school “hoping one day that she will be
somebody.” Just like any other teenager, Hope started asking herself if she
could fit into any group; if she is “good looking” or not; do her friends and
family really care about her?

Hope’s parents are divorced. I know where she’s coming from. I myself am
coming from divorced parents, and so-from one friend to another-I knew what she
was going through.

What I don’t know is what is happening to our society and our family
values-why people ‘stop trying’ to make their marriages work.

I know that having kids is a big responsibility and that it is expensive too.
That is why both parents need to have jobs to support the family these days. It
is not like the old days when couples could afford to have a lot of kids. My mom
said that her great grandmother had 11 children and only the father needed to
hold a job ‘to bring home the bacon.’ The best part of a big family is that they
could come together to share family experiences, to talk about the good times
and bad times and to celebrate life. But for my friend Hope there is no such
thing.

It is sad that no one seems to care. Why would she grab a razor blade and cut
her arms? Why could somebody hurt themselves in order to ‘relieve’ their
depression? Why could she inflict pain to herself? Could this feel good at all?
Is this a way to call for help? I wouldn’t know-I am not a doctor or a
therapist. I am a teenager trying to understand what the world is coming to.

Believe me: it is hard to see your friend carrying around scars on her arms.
The questions tumble through my mind. Has nobody told her how important she is;
that she is a gift of God? How long is this going to continue? What role are her
parents playing in all of this? Some parents don’t even know which grade their
children are in or how they’re behaving at school. Some parents don’t know what
their children’s likes and dislikes are, if they feel loved or abandoned.

I am Hope’s friend and I don’t think I can help her on my own. I talked to
her and I let her know that she is important to me. So, before you finish that
cup of coffee, before you run out that door, give your child a kiss. Tell them
you love them because you never know if that’s the last time you may see them.

Alexis DaLessio will be a junior next year at Frazier Mountain High
School.

This is part of the June 22, 2007 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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