Blog Entry 3- All Because of Culture

     As we grow older we tend to forget what its like to grow up and be teenagers, especially during a certain time or era. We tend to forget how culture and society influences the younger generation. We tend to forget how society affects the younger generation whether good or bad. This chapter explores culture, its role in society and social world and how cuture influences us as human beings. As time progress we learn a better understand of culture and how it impacts our lives and how it allows us to interact with people of different groups. For many people culture is defined as having the knowlegde of arts and music while other refer to it as a way of life. Culture is having the collection of values, beliefs, knowledge and norms along with the language and behavior shared by people which is socially passed on from generation to generation. Culture is learned as we grow up and it is not biological. It operates from individuals to large and larger groups ultimately influencing how people live. For example, my cultural background has always taught me that it is a sign of respect to look at someone in the eyes when they are speaking whereas other cultures might see it as a sign of disrespect. Evey culture differs from what they believe is normal and odd, but one thing is for sure culture in definition is the same to everyone, our values, beliefs, language and our food. As time goes on culture becomes redefine as newer things are introduced. Culture can change as generations develop.

   When I first started to read the article "Teenage Wasteland," I couldn't help but think of an episode of Law and Order Criminal Intent where a group of young adults made a suicide pact as a way out of the life they lived. A young couple much like the couple in the article was part of this pact to end their lives together while others just wanted to end their miserable lives. Much like the author of this article I found myself asking the question "What made them choose this route instead of looking for other alternatives?". I also felt bothered as how the media and adults referred to them as "burn outs". I felt as though these adults and others should have been paying more attention instead of judging them because of their peers and how they dressed and behaved. A major factor of suicide in the teens of Bergenfield was alcohol and drug abuse as well as their families being destroyed by estrangment, death and divorce and their failure in school. Their society failed to help them became better instead of wasting their time trying to pass the time and overcome boredom. Instead they were labled. A lable that followed them even after their death, even after they have taken their own lives they were not respected by society. As adults we sometimes tend to forget how much words can affect our young generations and I believe if these teens were offered some kind of moral support somewhat like the author was doing in trying to figured out why the teens were cutting themselves, the suicide pact between theother teens would of probably not happened.

      The article "Teenage Wastelands" and Chapter 3 relate to each other in my opinion because they both speak about cultural shock (the experience of being disoriented because of a lack of knowlegde about an unfamiliar situation) and what a culture implies to be appropriate behavior. The "burnouts" of Bergenfield were not define as 'appropriate'. The teenagers who committed suicide were expected by their community and society to act and behavor a certain way. The norms as described in chapter 3 told people what they should do and what NOT to do. These teenagers were expected not to take their own lives, to go to college and find a good job and move out of their town, but no one took the time out from labeling them to ask them how they were doing after experiencing a death or divorce in their family. They were simply put off as the bad crowd even after their pact.

     I can somewhat related to the "burn outs" from this article because in high school those were the people I hung out with the most. Although I was considerably book smart and "wise beyond my years" as teachers often referred to me I was drawn to sit at the lunch table with the kids who were lable as burn out or good for nothing and trouble makers. Afterschool I often found myself hanging out with them on the corner store eating a cup of noodle soup to keep warm in the winter or flavor iceys in the summer. I much rather be with the outcast then the nerds in the library or the pretty popular girls at the mall. I preferred to be with the bad kids because to me they were fun to be around. Teachers believed they were a bad influenced to me but I believe I was bad to them. I enjoyed getting into trouble with them and having debates, which to much of my suprise they were not dumb at all. They were just not fulled entertained by school and society was not of any help either.