Were you a "troubled" teen? Tell me your story. - Page 2 - Writers Forum

**Penelope** · 08-31-2003, 09:44 AM

Washer, while you may not leap into the abyss of 'foolish' acts you have friends who do so. To save yourself the agonies, live vicariously through their misadventures. A good writer does not need to suffer. They simply need to be observant. If it's not your nature to misbehave then you will fail if you try it. So excell in not making stupid mistakes with my blessings.

You already write well, so you have no worries.

David Kenneth Johnson · 09-02-2003, 11:25 AM

[quote="Penelope"]Washer, while you may not leap into the abyss of 'foolish' acts you have friends who do so. To save yourself the agonies, live vicariously through their misadventures. A good writer does not need to suffer. They simply need to be observant."

I think that's just right, Penelope. Though I would add that vicarious living is overrated for this other reason, too: Each of us
experiences directly the moments of his or her life, even when we suppose ourselves to be "merely" observing the life of another.

DKJ

**Penelope** · 09-02-2003, 11:48 AM

'Vacarious' living does have some benefits. As one who's done both and lived to write about it, I find I draw from most of my wilderness experiences when I write. They had a profound impact on my senses and survival. What I did in the urban 'jungle' has less to do with survival and more to do with stupidity. Living in the city and comparing it to isolation just doesn't cut it with me. There are just too many people and cell phones around.
Thank you for considering my comments worthy enough to quote.

Anonymous · 09-02-2003, 01:35 PM

My daughters have diabetes; I don't. I experience the disease directly on a daily basis, however differently from their experiences of it. No experience is any more genuine than the others -- though some may be more or less meaningful or acute. In this case, mine is a different sort of vicarious longing, where I frequently wish actually to adopt the experience of others, if only to save them from it.

David Kenneth Johnson · 09-02-2003, 07:25 PM

I accidentally posted as a guest. Their names are Sarah and Laura; they are my heroes.

dkj

**Penelope** · 09-02-2003, 11:25 PM

Sarah/Sara is a special name to me. I've written two poems about the Sarah/Sara's I've never known. Only poems I've ever written about a female enigma.

modified7 · 09-03-2003, 03:31 AM

Fun topic to discuss.......lively, but why are you asking of these experiences......research?
I was going to be a chemist until teenage years, discovered cars and girls and it was all over. Never been big on drugs, but drank enough for three teenagers.....wrecked some cars. Lots of fights as a teen (even arrested for it once)....but never hurt anyone seriously in a fight.
Never ran away, never understood the appeal of it, but I grew up in a house with great parents.
I don't think there is a substitute for experiencing things firsthand, but as with most once you've outgrown all the experimenting......you wonder how you lived through it all. I don't mind saying in today's world I wouldn't want to go back through all of it.........a different world we live in today........ Keith

David Kenneth Johnson · 09-03-2003, 10:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Penelope

Sarah/Sara is a special name to me. I've written two poems about the Sarah/Sara's I've never known. Only poems I've ever written about a female enigma.

May we read them? I like the creative twist that they're about people you've never known.

dkj

AdamR · 09-03-2003, 12:05 PM

Currently, at 15, I'm not a 'troubled' teen. I'm only 2 (almost 3) years into the world of teenagers... 4 (almost 3) to go. I have plans for my future, and drinking, smoking, sex, nor crime are part of that future. Well, they are in the plan...the plan of what not to do.

I ran away once or twice when I was like five or six. I was a 'perservering' kid, so I stuck to what I decided to do. I actually got a mile away before I decided to go back. My parents were so surprised because usually, when a kid decides to 'run away,' it's usually only a block away or to the end of the street. I wonder if that's good or bad?

David Kenneth Johnson · 09-03-2003, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdamR

I actually got a mile away before I decided to go back. My parents were so surprised because usually, when a kid decides to 'run away,' it's usually only a block away or to the end of the street. I wonder if that's good or bad?

Perhaps it is good, a sign that you follow through on your promises. Afterall, making it a mile from home at that age IS running away, even if you quickly ran back

Lily · 10-03-2003, 04:41 PM

The only trouble I have is with my mom . . . silly tyrannical Chinese mom! It's not a story you haven't heard before, so I'll just keep it to myself

Darkshine · 10-03-2003, 09:19 PM

Washer and Matt- I know what you're talking about. I'm in college now (and still technically a teenage) and I'm never in trouble. I had a father who abused drugs and alchohol and so I stayed far away from them. His pounding on the windows in the middle of the night in a drunken rage was enough to keep me from experimenting.

I've had a slew of relationships, some of them sexual, some of them not, but I've never lied to my mom about any of them. As a matter of fact...I think the only thing I have ever lied to my mom about was once I went to the mountains with my boyfriend when I told my mom I was at the mall. I did that because I thought I ougta be more "rebellious". Heh.

I think my biggest problem was (somewhat like Penelope) being reprimanded for defending myself in various ways. Mostly challenging teachers and the like. That and I went through a lot of middle school and high school with very few or no friends. I was depressed constantly and got in huge amount of trouble from my mom and dad for the "tone" of my writing. That's about it though...fairly tame high school experience.

Allusearna · 10-05-2003, 02:26 AM

’m not, nor was, nor am intending to be a ‘troubled teen’.

I think my biggest problem was (somewhat like Penelope) being reprimanded for defending myself in various ways.

I can sympathise with that one. At school the teachers were constantly telling us ‘if someone hits you, you don’t hit them back, you go tell the teacher. If someone calls you names, you don’t call them names back, you tell a teacher’ whereas at home I grew up with ‘if someone hits you, you damn well hit them back!’
Ak. That one got me into conflict a few times… Once when I was about nine or ten this big mean girl was blocking my was into the toilets at school, calling me names and not letting me in, and if I tried to get past her she just pushed me back. I got really annoyed and yelled at her and pushed her out of the way. And guess who got in trouble? Yup, I did. I got the ‘and what would Jesus have done?” lecture and ‘Jesus would have just asked her nicely to go away…because he loved everybody’ and I was like ‘I did ask her, and maybe if Jesus had learned self defence he wouldn’t have died!’
That one landed me in detention for two lunchtimes. Stupid teachers, how are you supposed to survive in a world if you can’t defend yourself!