thirteen

When I was thirteen, I thought I was mature and capable. Now, some of you may be laughing at this, thinking "13? Please, that is so young!" But think back to when you were 13 - 13 means Middle School, Young Women's, babysitting, mutual on week nights, band concerts, school plays, sports, and a ton more. We all thought of ourselves as quite grown-up at 13; and yes, we had a lot more growing up to do, but we had come a long way already.
If you look around at the world today, 13 is changing. From the world's point of view, 13 means PG-13 movies. That right there is a scary thought. Even at 19, I don't watch all PG-13 movies, and frankly, I don't want to. Today on Facebook (a FB at 13? It used to be a college site!) a 13-year-old girl I know asked people not to swear around her in her Facebook status. Now, I think that is a very mature thing to ask, and publicly posting it as her status takes courage. But then one of her school-friends started commenting and saying that she couldn't "control her swearing" and that swearing showed maturity because it was a "good way to get your anger out." After that comment, this girl's status became a heated conversation. Her friends and relatives (all young) started commenting on how the swearing girl was being immature and how swearing shows a "lack of intelligence." I totally agree with this last sentence. It was neat to see people band together against swearing (even if Facebook isn't the best place for it). Then someone pointed out that swearing girl was only 13 and how sad it was that her language was already corrupted. Even though I think that 13-year-olds should not be treated like little kids, I also feel sad that a 13-year-old has already fallen into the horrible habit of swearing.
Yes, let's treat 13-year-olds as older than kids, but at the same time, it is not the age for losing innocence. Thank you, to the girl I know and all her friends and family for standing up for their standards! And swearing girl, you are why 13-year-olds are still treated like little kids.