Teenagers: Greek Orgs and Religion

Posted by J.R.

May 13, 2010

I make much of my progress in arbitrary brain wandering by comparing things which have demonstrated a few traits in common, and testing for other commonalities. If two things belong to several of the same categories, it makes sense to begin by assuming that they will share several traits. Sure, this is how stereotypes form, but this is also how conclusions form and the basis for much of human intuition and problem solving skills. Negative stereotypes about entire groups of people develop when people apply this thought process lazily. These types of stereotypes are of a lower caliber than, for example, Joel Stickley’s writing stereotypes in How To Write Badly Well and the distinction between them is important. Note that I don’t really assume my reader is a bigot. C’mon… bigots can’t read.

Say you’ve got a group of people who continually does things you don’t like. Maybe teenagers. They won’t get off your lawn, right? Right. So, they’re a bunch of brats. There are less jobs available for teenagers now, so they hardly ever do anything useful with themselves. There are very few publicly sanctioned places for teenagers to spend time outside of school. So, they’re mostly careless, directionless overgrown children who often wander their neighborhoods. Sure, the charismatic teenagers end up running a side business while working a part time job and running a club. Sadly, most people aren’t charismatic. In fact, a lot of people are ignorant bigots with uninteresting biases instead of well-developed understanding. You know, like people who hate teenagers.

A lot of people forget that teenagers are future components of our society. Teenagers don’t want to live like terrible people any more than you do. Teenagers who are in your yard might understand that they are invading what you consider your private space, but they are also testing the limits of society to try and come to an understanding of it. As an adult, when you deal with teenagers, you are teaching them by setting an example. The kinds of folks who yell at teenagers and assume the worst of them do not encourage success outside of bootcamp. Some teenagers probably should enlist and won’t, and in that instance if you’ve got Sarge’s chops you might as well consider wearing that hat, however you must consider the weight of your actions upon a fragile teenage psyche. It’s best to privately talk to their parents first.

A neighborhood where yards touch one another along obviously defined boundaries is by nature not private. The very name English gives to the place suggests neighbors. If you dislike having to occasionally interact with other people, live by yourself in a cabin in the woods. If teenagers are in your yard, make sure they know who you are. Go out and talk to them. Be friendly. Get to know them. Then maybe you’ll care enough about what happens to them that you’d rather they leave your yard with a reason to do something else. Give them a better reason other than that you’re a big scary dirtbag.

Yeah, I know you work hard all day. Not everybody has enough charisma to deal with teenagers, right? Right. So don’t assume these teenagers won’t someday work hard all day. If someone motivates them, they certainly will. Find out what inspires them, and send them to it. Or invite over an expert. No, the cops don’t know how to relate to teenagers. Think a little harder. Anyway, whatever inspires them will probably become a lot more interesting to them than your yard pretty quickly. Shouldn’t that inspire you?

The stereotype comparison that led me here was how frats and religion are the same. I realize that’s a huge segue, but so is your mom, and you don’t seem to dislike her. If you do, I’m sorry. If she’s dead, that doesn’t mean you can’t still like her. Just make sure you don’t like your dead mom in inappropriate ways. We were just thinking about being considerate of society, right? Right.

Okay, so you’ve seen the religious fanatic. The one who’s always running around carrying some massive symbol of their religion and using it to bludgeon everyone else with their beliefs. Sometimes these beliefs are xenophobic, homophobic, or just outright incomprehensible. Likewise, you’ve probably seen the frat guy or sorority chick emblazoned with their respective symbols behaving obnoxiously. This is normal, if unfortunate human behavior. People often hold on to a social institution with one hand while they fly their freak flag with the other. You know how some people hold onto the wall while they get into the pool? Not everyone can be totally confident, right? Right. When I was a swim instructor for Montgomery County Parks and Recreation, it was my job to convince people to stop holding on to that wall and swim. If I called those people pussies and insulted them, I’d have reasonably expected to be fired. I’ll agree that extremists should not be permitted to pee everywhere while treading in their neighbors’ lives. However, careful application of reason and leading by an accessible example is a more affective tactic at combating this problem than snobbery. Thankfully when I dealt with this one at the pool, I knew that pee is sterile. It’s the feces you have to worry about.

There are plenty of people who belong to certain religions who are not extremists and who live in a way which isn’t antagonistic or offensive to most people. Likewise, there are plenty of normal, awesome people who are in greek organizations. All of them are people who can think of better things to do than be boisterous and attention seeking. You can either hide from both groups in your house and get upset when they enter your territory, or you can befriend them. Which technique works better? Which results in the kind of life you’d like to live? Remember, if you don’t like the neighborhood, nobody’s stopping you from moving out.

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