There are some people who, as old as they may be, remain the
eternal teenager.
So, you might ask, what's so special about being a teenager
that they're not ready to let it go?
Being a teenager is becoming suddenly aware of the universe;
of feelings, of happenings, of things that until then were
ordinary, nothing to get excited over, and then, one day, the
sunset with its streaks of pink and russet makes you want to
cry, and then something else also opens your heart to
something so powerful and indescribable that all you can do
is catch your breath...
Being a teenager is being so happy one minute and so
miserable the next.
And if you're really smart, you figure out that maybe it's
because you want to fly but have no wings... But being a
teenager means that you do have wings and that you can fly...
and will fly... and refuse to listen to the kind, reassuring
voice that says, as you wipe your tears, "Of course you'll
fly. If not right away, then one day in the future..."
Being a teenager is hearing and being shaken by the call on
the Mount that echoes, "Return ye errant children... Let Me
heal your wounds..."
Being a teenager is trying so hard to experience
kedusha, to feel that you're connected to eternity, to
be reminded in Whose Image you were created, to be inspired
to be a joy to your Creator.
It is wanting to conquer worlds and learning that to conquer
outer worlds, one must first conquer his own small world of
self.
Being a teenager is having so many questions and so few
answers and realizing in shock that as humans, we have our
limitations.
Being a teenager is sometimes feeling so old... so
understanding, so accepting of things as they are... and then
the next minute, acting like a willful child, insisting: "No,
I want, it must be, I can't live another minute without
it."
Being a teenager is having your head so full of the really
important things in life, like clothing and that scary issue
of peer-acceptance, that there's no room left in your world
for anything else to exist.
It's looking into the mirror and bewailing the blackheads and
the freckles and the nose that isn't cuter and the hair that
isn't straighter and the eyes that are too small and the
mouth that's too wide and the cheekbones that aren't higher.
And as you feel yourself sliding uncontrollably down that
steep, rocky cliff called "Finding fault with yourself," you
go into panic. Because no one can help you until you learn to
accept yourself.
So what do you do when those things happen?
You could... stop a minute... and try to relax.
You could tell yourself (like everyone else is telling your
mother in an attempt to calm her) that it's only a stage and
like all stages, this, too, will pass. (Right away, because I
can't hold out any longer.)
But you and I both know that being a teenager is NOT only a
stage. It's real life brimming over. And as you go on to
become the cultured young lady that society expects you to
become one of these days, remember to take along the teenager
that's still inside you. Because that's the real you; the
zest for life, the determination to fly, the sensitivity to
people and what life is all about.
Because you're a creature of greatness with a future that
calls, that beckons, that waits with bated breath for you to
emerge a finished person.
