Dear Readers and Friends,

Not only have I promised my mother and my friends that I would not harp on this situation with Connie, I have also promised myself. But unfortunately, I must admit that today's quote refers very much to Connie and, in some ways, to myself. The few lines of the two songs I am about to display are some of my favorite song lyrics of all time. Somehow, they seem to describe exactly what many teenagers (myself included) seem to go through quite often. 

The first song is from Panic at the Disco's first album, "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out." Although the video takes place in "an illegal strip club," according to Brendon Urie's "girlfriend" at the beginning, this, for me, refers to teenagers on the whole. The song is called "But it's Better if You Do" and a few of its lyrics that have always seemed so relevant to so many people my age are as follows:

Although the lyrics just before this are "Praying for love in a lap-dance," I feel that the lyrics listed above apply to myself and others my age. And I know I sound like some melodramatic "emo" kid (or my mother, for that matter) but what I'm getting at with these lyrics is pretty simple: we all just want to be loved.

I remember one time I was with my mother. We were on our way to my grandmother's house and we passed this two girls walking along. They had multicolored hair; a black ring of makeup an inch thick around each eye; black lipstick; those combat boots that "gothic" people wear (I really hate labels, but I sometimes used them as more of a description); and those half-sleeve thingies that are like gloves and come up to your elbows. And my mother got that look on her face that moms get when they feel bad for someone and she said, "They all just want is to look different, and they all just end up looking the same."

So let's say I was eight years old that day. For some reason, even at such a young age, that always stuck with me. And I've often wondered if that one sentence helped me not to feel like I must conform to what other people think I should be. Because she was absolutely right. These girls that walk around in two-inch-long skirts and shirts that look like bikini-tops; I honestly believe the only thing that want is to be different, and to stand out, and to be seen as a individual. But that's what they all want. So they all go about it the same way: they wear the same mini mini-skirts and skimpy little tops, and all end up right back wear the started from: looking just every one else. 

And it works both ways: all these girls, these "goths" and "emos" (how do you write the plural for "emo"?), walking around. I honestly believe they all just want to be noticed, and to be accepted for individuals. This "oh, I hate 'preppies,' I'll show them: I'll wear so much black eye make-up I look like a raccoon whore" attitude is taken as total bullshit by parents. But I really believe that when a mother's daughter comes out looking like a some gothic biker chick that instead of saying, "So-and-so, take off all that make-up! You look like a prostitute!", that mother should realize that her daughter must have some major self-esteem issues going on. Why else would she dress like that? 

So I could be wrong. Maybe I am; maybe I'm not. But I believe that if I'm not totally right, I'm pretty close. I feel like I'm a pretty good judge of things like this because I am a teenager; I'm going through the same peer-pressure and things that those "goths" and "emos" and "preppies" are going through. But on the other hand I feel like I am a pretty down-to-earth person. What I mean by this is, I can see both sides of it. I feel like I know how those teen girls feel, just wanting to be different, and be accepted. But I also feel like I know how some parents must feel. Because, honestly, I feel like a parent sometimes when I see girls dressed how girls dress these days and I see how it makes them look and I know what people must assume about them.

And I don't think it's just girls who do it. Though I do have to say, when guys go with the whole "emo" look they just end up looking adorable.  But anyway, all this just goes back to my quote. And I think those exact words can pretty much sum it up: we're all just praying for love, and end up paying in naivety.