Nuria Arias

Professor Batty

English 101

14 May 2019

Not As Romantic As It Seems: How Low Self-Esteem Can Take Teenagers To A Despairing

Future

In 1999, in Richmond High School, the basketball team, mostly formed by Afro-

American students, did not think of their future as a bed of roses, so they were discouraged and

with no purpose in life. However, Ken Carter, his coach, motivated them and led them to succeed

academically and therefore professionally. Lance Lahnert recently wrote about Carter’s new role

as a motivational speaker in Amarillo Globe News. The article shows that coach Carter always

says to his audience, ‘All these great libraries have all these books of great people from our past.

They have already made these mistakes. So read and you won’t make those mistakes.’[ CITATION

Lan18 \l 1033 ] . In books, we can see the story of real or fictional characters, and we learn from

their deeds. In ‘Still Water Saints’, Alex Espinoza tells the story of costumers that have different

personal struggles. One of the most outlining characters is Rosa, who despite her young age, is

struggling a very complex issue. She is 16 and a little overweight, and she feels discouraged by

her mother. However, she meets her coworker, Miguel Angel, who changes her perspective on
her body. Eventually, they end up being together and Miguel exerts a very positive influence on

her. In the end of the story, Rosa has children and gets married to Miguel Angel. Despite Rosa

looks happy with Miguel Angel, such relationship is one of the negative consequences of her low

self-esteem. Sometimes as adolescents, due to our insecurity on our body image, we tend to

make decisions that may not be the best for our future. Unlike Rosa, we should get help to build

a healthy self-esteem in order to build an academic path and succeed professionally in the long

run.

To begin with, many teenagers in the US show signs of low self-esteem and are prone to

have new tendencies. According to a research carried out by Heather Gallivan, Psychologist and

specialist in eating disorders at Park Nicollet, ‘53% of 13 year-old American girls are unhappy

with their bodies. This number grows to 78% by the time girls reach 17.’ [ CITATION Hea14 \l 1033

]. Unbelievably, the number increases in a significant way as the age is turning higher. As a

matter of fact, 16-year-old Rosa is having self-esteem issues as her mom makes her body looks

like a problem. Such discouragement introduced her to her now job at a market, where she

meets Miguel, who in some way, makes her feel capable of being attractive for a man. Espinoza

narrates gracefully her sexual desires the night when Rosa imagines Miguel on top of her and she

reaches orgasm on her bed [CITATION Ale \p 24 \l 1033 ]. Such extract shows she feels that sexual

experimentation is within her grasp and that is a new tendency for her. Notwithstanding her age
and Miguel’s best intentions, she has low self-esteem and love and sex are going to be new

tendencies for her from that moment on.

As regards the relationship Rosa finally has with Miguel Angel, despite she seems to be

happy, such relationship is one of the negative consequences of her low self-esteem.

Nonetheless, must readers may assume that Miguel Angel is a positive influence for Rosa. In

fact, he is. When Rosa is getting to know him more and more, his comments give her a new

perspective of her life and the importance of being thin. When Rosa tells him that she hates

herself for being overweight he responds: ‘So, you are. So what. You’ve got plenty to feel good

about. (…) For one, you’ve got a family, more than I’ve ever had. ‘ [CITATION Ale \p 27 \l 1033 ].

In this way, Miguel Angel is showing her that her physical appearance is not as important and

valuable as her family. Consequently, he is giving Rosa a good advice on feeling happy with

what she has. However, as far as the story goes, she ends up having children with him, which is

not the best plan at the age of 16. She is more likely to have sexual relationships with Miguel for

her low self-esteem rather than her feelings for him. According to an article provided by Reach

Out, a mental health a for young adults and parents, ‘One of the negative consequences of low

self-esteem is earlier sexual activity’. [ CITATION Rea19 \l 1033 ]. As stated before, her low self-

esteem leads Rosa to be sexually active only at the age of 16. Therefore, she ends up having

children and such act changes her life in a negative way. That being said, her relationship is a

bad consequence of her self-esteem issue.

 Finally, as teenagers, sometimes our physical insecurities lead us to make decisions that

we think they are correct. Unfortunately, they are not as good as they seem because sometimes

such actions can be the result of low self-esteem instead of a sign of improvement. It is important

to guide and help teenagers, so they build a healthy self-esteem and then make decisions to

improve their lives. On the one hand, according to the story, Rosa has children and works as a

hairstylist. Hence, she is getting married to Miguel Angel. Moreover, her decisions have the

approval of her mother. To cut the story short, she feels happy and seems content with what she

achieved. On the other hand, having children changed Rosa’s life negatively. This is because she

is more limited to access to education owing to money and time. Rosa could have a better future

if her mother or someone else gives her a better guidance, so she could build her self-esteem, set

higher goals, end up in college to have a better job and when her time to have children comes,

she can provide her family with a better future. To summarize, no one helps Rosa build her self-

esteem or shows her the importance of having a course of studies and her physical insecurities

prompted her to have a life with no big goals or academic purposes.

In conclusion, adolescents take decisions that may affect their future positively or

negatively. In the end of Still Water Saints, Alex Espinoza portraits Rosa as a happy person with
a job, children and she is about to get married. However, she is an adolescent and she acts under

the influence of her low self-esteem. Having a low self-esteem, Rosa has babies with the first

man she dated and works as a hairstylist at a young age. If her family or people close to her help

her building self-esteem, she can have a course of studies, have a degree and probably be the

owner of an important chain of beauty salons in the region instead. Coming back to Mr. Ken

Carter, if discouraged adolescents like Rosa had someone like him to guide them, less young

mothers with weak prospects will exist and healthier young adults with big plans may prevail.

Surprisingly, there is a big number of teenagers that are undergoing self-esteem issues, especially

girls. As adults we should reflect that healthier adolescents make healthier adults and

consequently, a healthier society. It is difficult to tackle mental issues on our own and

adolescence is very vulnerable part of our lives. This stage of life is important and if we are not

experiencing it, we can guide the ones we see like Rosa. Coach Carter, as a guide of disoriented

adolescents, states that they can learn from books, so they read about great people from the past.

Similarly, as adults we are also characters teenagers can learn from, so they can set their goals

and take themselves and our society to a better future.

Works Cited

Espinoza, Alex. Still Water Saints . New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks , 2007.

Gallivan, Heather. "Parknicollet.com." 18 05 2014.

Lahnert, Lance. "The ‘real’ Coach Carter inspires PD students." Amarillo Globe News (2018).

ReachOut.com. 2019.