An Open Letter to Teens: It’s Time U Knew Exactly What Adults Think About U

Ok teens,  it’s time to speak my mind to tell you exactly what I think of you. In fact, I’m going to tell you exactly what most adults think about you.

Are you ready for the truth?

Do you know what we adults see when we look at you?

We see superheroes.

Ok, let’s be honest for a moment lest you not believe what I’m about to say in the rest of my letter. Yes we sometimes see eye-rolling, gum-chewing, headphone-wearing, strangely dressed, smartphone obsessed aliens just like you see annoying, unfashionable, embarrassing, smartphone obsessed weirdos. But once we get beyond that, we see superheroes.

To be truthful, you’re actually more powerful than any superhero I know at least in the ways that matter.

I know it may seem at times that life is overwhelming and that there are too many pressures coming at you from all sides. Pressures from your friends. Pressures from your teachers. Pressures from your coaches. Pressures from your family (especially your parents (and yes, we know we pressure you.)) Pressures from the world in general just squishing you in from all sides. What’s incredible to me is that you don’t just collapse and fall down from all this pressure – you stand tall and rock it!

You manage to maintain the right friendships and know when to step away from the wrong ones. You go to school and manage to get through the day even with all the drama that surrounds you. You get your feelings hurt by cruel people but your inner strength propels you back on your feet the next day. You get your school work done and get the best grades you can. You train and perform hard as athletes and get out there to give 110% of yourself. You get injured but you don’t give up. You paint, draw, write and sing and create amazing things that we stand in awe of as adults. You read, relax and spend time with your families (even your siblings.) You are kind to others. You volunteer. You give back. You are multi-faceted like the brightest of diamonds.

You make the right decisions. You sometimes make the wrong decisions but you realize this and learn from them and become all the stronger for it. You present yourselves to the world as individuals in so many little ways whether you realize it or not. From the way you choose to wear your hair to the outfits you pick out to the shoes on your feet; you explore, experiment, push boundaries, go big or play it safe and yet in the end, you emerge like butterflies. And what you can do with your smartphones leaves all of us adults speechless and confused.

And speaking of us adults…we know you roll your eyes and sigh as we push and prod and poke and correct with all our advice and admonitions. And yet you let us. You take it all in, process some, discard others and manage to keep us happy and proud as you figure out who are you and who you want to be in this world.

You are pulled in 1,000 different directions and yet you do not pull apart.

I don’t know about you but that sounds like a superhero to me.

I hope that when you look in the mirror you catch a fleeting glimpse of the superhero staring back at you.  I hope you also know that as a superhero, you have the ability to save and change the world.

I, for one, know that you will.