Teenagers and their Paradigms

Last month in Puerto Rico we were saddened and shocked by the news of pre-teens and early teenagers being picked up by the police and the Department of Families at 1:00 a.m. in a pub in San Juan. They were all dancing, and some even were under the influence of alcohol without adult supervision. During the removal from the place, and while the parents were being contacted, the children became a mob that broke a police car window and vandalized the establishment. Aparently they felt their rights had been violated in some way. Now the parents face child neglect charges (for allowing children as young as 11 years old to be outside and partying without supervision at 1:00 a.m.) while the teenagers that vandalized the private and public property are being charged as minors.

On the other side of the World, a fifteen year old girl in London is receiving lots of criticism since she started a series of youtube tutorials on how to look like a doll. This young lady is fascinated with Japanise anime characters and devotes a lot of time applying make up to resemble them. The girl has been told almost everything, from being immature to being weird to being crazy.  Even during an interview with BBC the interviewer told her mom shed be "horrorized" if her daughter acted like that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M46sQ_oboZc&feature=g-all-s&context=G24ec8c4FAAAAAAAABAA

Dear journalist: Forgive me, but that was a really stupid comment. You need to come here and experience Real Horror. Here are some interesting facts:

•  Children as young as 16 are being hired as drug runners and gunmen. The drug dealers hire young people to do this because the youth code is more lenient than the adult code. That is  horrifying, in case you didn't know.
•  In 2010 6.4 per cent of teenagers in Puerto Rico reported some kind of molestation from people who should have been protecting and taking care of them.(http://wkaq580.univision.com/noticias/article/2010-04-08/adolescentes-en-puerto-rico-reconocieron)That is horrifying. 
• Forty five percent of teenagers in Puerto Rico are obese.  http://www.wuvntv.com/noticia/2012/02/01/333652-41-ciento-adolescentes-puertorriquenos-sufre-sobrepeso-obesidad.html That is horryfing.

While other teenagers have been filming themselves naked and posting the videos for everyone to see, Venus has decided she wants to follow her own paradigma.

In my humble opinon, she is cute, intelligent, and admirable, just as many other teenagers who are really wanting to make a positive difference.