The Secret Life of the American Straight Edge

There are a lot of reasons why I am against having sex in high school, for one thing you’re not an adult, you can’t vote, you can’t drink, you can’t even buy a lottery ticket. Other then the physical and emotional fact of just being prematurely developed, I think that most children that age just don’t take it seriously. Not children, no that’s not the right word, kids, I don’t think kids take it seriously enough. I know that just about every teenager watching this show right now rolled their eyes and turned away from the TV, just about the same as every parent watching this show doing the exact opposite. I’m not saying that all teenagers are immature and underdeveloped in high school, I know I wasn’t, but what we don’t realize at that age is that we are in fact kids. Not children, not babies, but kids, young people who have no idea how to handle the real world, and that’s the honest truth. I made a promise to myself when I was 13 years old, just after I found out that one of my friends was already having sex, that I would wait until I was at least 21 to lose my virginity, and I did, I have, and it honestly wasn’t that hard. I think a big reason sex is such a nonchalant thing these days is because of the way we talk about it now. I think that’s why I choose my words the way that I do. I call it loosing my virginity, not having sex or making love. Just calling it ‘having sex’ makes it seem like something everyone is doing, and all though it may seem that way, trust me friends not EVERYONE is doing it, and sometimes the people who aren’t can be surprising. Also calling it ‘making love’ is like saying you’re doing something almost heroic. I’m not saying that teenagers can’t fall in love, I’m not saying that at all, in fact quite the opposite, I think it’s the only time that you can fall in love so purely. Growing up is hard, and becoming an adult is even harder. Sometimes in the adult world things happen backwards. Sometimes it’s about sex before it’s about love, and in high school it’s about love. I think having sex at that age is robbing, not only a young persons physical innocence, but emotional innocence. I think that high school should be about having fun, innocent fun, because you are never going to feel that way again, you will never feel as free and innocent in your enjoyment of anything ever again. I think the high school years should be spend falling in love, slowly and completely, with your heart and soul. The kind of love that makes your heart melt just to touch their hand. High school should be a time to sneak out of the house just to have a glow in the dark water gun fight. At that age you should be dressing like a maniac and dying your hair green, because when you’re older you’re not going to be able to do most of these things without people thinking you’re a little nuts, or still a 15-year-old kid. Okay here’s what I’m getting at: I’m not saying that high school kids should sit around with that grade school mind set of kissing is icky, I think you should make out with your boyfriend in the back seat of a car, I just don’t think people that age should be ‘going all the way.’ Save that for college, spend the high school years acting like a kid, enjoying what is left of your oh-so-short childhood.