The tipping point…

Appearance is a main point in young people because people need to belong to a group in order to have a higher self-esteem and self-confidence. People usually try to form a group with people that have some similar features. These features are defined as clothes, hobbies, sports, leisure activities, music, etc.

I remember when I was a teenager… Well… I didn´t use to do things just to be accepted by a group of people… For instance, at high school after class my friends used to go to a house to drink, smoke and some other things else… I just preferred to go out with my girlfriend or maybe just to play soccer with some neighbors…

I think it is essential a balance in life. Teens shouldn´t feel pressured about experiencing new hobbies or activities. It´s basic to know that young people are usually close to people a couple of years older and they try to imitate their behavior in order to be accepted.

It is curious that my friends used to have some different subcultures, depending on its clothes, sports, music, etc. For example some of them were called skaters, chatas, metal, ultras, mejengueros, etc… They might have belonged to more than a category for example someone might have been called meta- ultra.

In my high school sometimes subcultures represented a problem to attend. Differences in those subcultures produced a lot of problems, for example after class some fights among students were so usual. Some of them involved people from student´s neighbor and it had no final.

Finally, I think that respect and tolerance is basic to make a change and forget differences. Being original or just feeling you are is an excellent beginning.