Back to the Future

I WAS having a discussion the other night with a couple of friends and the conversation led back to high school. I graduated in 2002 and had not thought about it for a long time. The conversation got me thinking, even though the people I was speaking to were not people I went to school with. More than anything else, it made me feel that high school is definitely the worst time of one's life. I remember being thrilled to get out of there.

Think about it. It is a terribly insecure and hormone-driven time between the ages of 13 and 18. That is why I am always very sad when I see a news report of a teenager committing suicide. You just wish you could jump in and comfort them before it is too late. I just wish I could tell them that IT DOES GET BETTER.

It is not like I hated my teenage years...far from it. I had a very good childhood and I know a lot of people who REALLY suffered during those years. This is not a whinge about my past, but more about the teenage years in general. No matter if you had a good or bad childhood, high school and the teenage years are tough.

Imagine being able to go back as the person you are now. Not the unassured, insecure, inadequate, impressionable, immature shit you were at the time, but as the person you are today. It would be so much different. Oh how it would be different. As I touched on in my first blog, you change so much between the ages of 18 and 24. Going back as the way I am now, I would have no problem. For one thing I would not have an inbuilt, automatic respect for authority that I had then. I also would not be so brainwashed when it comes to religion. I went to an Anglican school for 12 long years. I remember the first time a friend of mine questioned religion. It was in year 5 and I still remember him saying to me, "I think all this stuff about God and Christianity is crap and made up." At the time I thought he was the devil. I was a good little God-fearing private school boy who believed what they were shoving down my throat. And no, that was not a catholic priest joke. He he. It wasn't really until after I graduated and left the establishment that was my high school that I questioned religion. And today, anybody who knows me will tell you that I now despise religion and the way it has been twisted and corrupted. I was basically brainwashed for 12 years. I now see everything differently. I look back now and hate the person I was. High school is shit, and don't let anybody tell you otherwise. And the people are around you are even worse. The ones that loved it and wish they were back there are the people who will never learn.

If people can get through those turbulent years relatively unscathed, the reward is usually great.