This was going to be an Xanga post, but for several
different reasons I chose not to publish it. For one, it lost some tightness as I wrote it, the focus wavered, and I did not
even come near to completing it. This is not a finished or final draft. Also, I wasn't sure how some people would take
it. But... here it is.
I think I figured it out!
Even since I’ve gotten involved with Xanga,
I have read many, many blog entries where teenagers unload their minds onto the internet. The span of the content is truly
amazing. One day, they could post how marvelous life is, and how happy they are,
and how their world is perfect, and if Jesus came right now, they would skip up to heaven on a rainbow.
But…
three days later, the same poster could write how absolutely terrible every aspect
of the universe—which is wholly in opposition of their mortal life—is, and how their entire existence has come
crashing to the ground in a twisted, melodramatic heap of parental feuds, romance breakups, attempted suicides and anger towards
God.
I marvel
as I read these bipolar posts. Are these people for real? What kind of life do these people lead? And more importantly, why would anyone even think of publicly publishing their thoughts—these intimate,
personal thoughts and feelings—for all to read?
Well,
I concluded that these people lead normal lives. Everyone has experienced the
vast array of emotions that these posters so melodramatically share with the world:
“I
hate my friends.”
“I’m
thinking about suicide.”
“Oh,
I just love God! He’s so good!”
“And
I definitely love that totally hot exchange student in Science class.”
But as
common as these brief thoughts may be, we—the rest of the world—do not need to be informed of this stuff! And
not merely because it’s depressing for a reader to witness another person’s
ups and downs, but because your innermost thoughts are meant to stay innermost.
I believe that when—
