TEENS YESTERDAY AND TODAY

It was a cool afternoon. The sky was clear and blue. The ten-year old I was
walking at the farm when I noticed some eggs on a leaf of the tree. After
five days, it became a worm-like creature. It was long with a cool pattern of
I think stripes or patches. The curiosity inside my mind made me wonder
what it was, but I didn’t get a chance to know. With a shrug in my shoulder I
went home.

While I was in my bed, that creature still boggled me. I asked my father
what it was. The next day, we went to see it and to my surprise, its outside
appearance changed. He told me that what I saw yesterday was a
caterpillar and now it became a pupa. He even told me something about
metamorphosis, which I don’t have any idea with. So, I just let it slip and
just go on playing. After some more days, I visited it again and saw that it
became an insect with a nice combination of color. Its wings spread widely
and it flew high while I was still amazed. The egg transformed into a
beautiful butterfly after different stages!

Looking back at that time, I realized that everything is really meant to

change. Who would have thought that from a simple egg, a beautiful
creature will exist? Now, I understand that that was metamorphosis.

People’s way of living is just like the life cycle of the butterfly. It undergoes
different changes. However, the sad truth is the changes that we, people,
go through are yin and yang- both positive and negative.

Let us analyze the changes that have happened in the people especially
the teenagers like us now.

First, let us find out the changes in the values. They said that teens then
were more disciplined and more well-mannered than teens now. I believe
that you have to agree with me that at some point, it is actually true. We
often hear our teachers saying this “Noong panahon namin, isang tingin
lang ng teacher namin, titigil na. Ngayon naman, naku!” Teens now are
seen as people who don’t show respect with the elders. For not just couple
of times, they don’t listen to our parents and other oldies.

Also, teens now are too carefree. They are so eager to be independent.
They are so aggressive to fly like the butterfly without minding the stages
that they should have go through with. Scold teens nowadays for their
wrong doings and surely they will leave the house and let the parents worry
about their whereabouts. This is one of the reasons of the high teen
pregnancy rate today.
In terms of the dress to wear, teens then were way more conservative than
now. You can’t see any girls then wearing short shorts because surely they
will end up kneeling in the salt or being hit by a bamboo stick by their strict
father. Before, the fashions are all above dresses which cover almost all
the skin in the body. Now, the trends are these “#short shorts pa more”,
“ripped jeans to be famous”, and “two piece bikini all the way.”

Another and one of the most noticeable things is the addiction of the teens
today to various gadgets. They won’t last a day without using their cell
phones. In every step that they do, in every move that they take, there will
always be a documented “selfie” that will be posted in all the social media.
Sad to say, this is becoming a reason for some crimes to exist.

But let us admit that this addiction to gadgets of teens nowadays also has
its own boon. Teens now are becoming more creative because of different
apps and games that they are doing. They also learn faster than the teens
then because of easier access to information; just one click on the gadget,
and the teen can be knowledgeable about a particular topic.

If we are going to analyze it, the metamorphosis that people have

undergone becomes the equalizer for the different negativity and positivity
in every aspect of our life. However, just like the butterfly, we are meant to
evolve, to change. What I am just wishing for every one of us, not only for
the teens is to change for the better. Adapt the good traits of the teens then
for us to improve and preserve the culture and enhance the good traits that
teens of this generation are possessing.

Parents, teachers, church leaders, community members—all of us are

responsible for the holistic development of the teens. We should help each
other to lead them to a path towards a fruitful life. After all, like what Rizal
said, teens are the new hope of our country!