• In Middle School, people being weird is just that, people being weird. In High School, when someone’s being weird, they’re either high or drunk. Of course, that’s not always the case, but it often feels that way. It reminds us of how much we’ve grown. And yes, that’s the kind of thing our parents used to say to us when we were little. How much of a big girl or boy we were when we were only 5. Now, we wouldn’t believe them if they said that to us today, not if it was in the same tone. But we believed them then because it made us feel older. And that’s what we all wanted when we were younger, to be older. Now that we are, we start to ask ourselves, 'what was I thinking?'
    Childhood becomes more and more precious as the years go by. Now that we’re 16 we wish that we were 5. Kids didn’t judge each other, we could go to school and draw all day, naptime was our favorite subject and the hardest thing to spell was the word ‘cat’. The only thing that would’ve made it better is if we were getting paid. And with the money, we’d buy our friends those 64 packs of Crayola Crayons, because when you had those, you were the coolest kid ever. But now, everything’s different. It’s not about who has the most crayons, it’s about who has the most friends. Who has the cutest boyfriend? Who has the trendiest clothes? Who lost their virginity first? Who throws the best parties? Who’s getting drunk and who’s getting high? We’ve lost sight of what’s really important. We’ve submerged ourselves into this shallow and materialistic world we call America. The judgmental and flat-out rude day-to-day routine we call our lives.
    Somewhere during the years from being 5 to turning 16, a lot of us have lost our childhood friends. We often ask why, or how? It’s simple. As we get older, some of us get smarter, we mature, and we become open-minded and responsible. Some of us even learn and understand the value of honesty. Others, however, get stupid and neglectful. They become judgmental and dishonest. Their minds tend to skip that period where they mature. We then find that it is nearly impossible to have any kind of connection with that person. Some of us can move on, others can’t. It’s a choice that we make of how to deal with the loss of a friend. It’s like breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend. We can sit and wonder where it all went wrong. Was there something we could’ve done, something we could’ve said? 99.9% of the time, the answer will be no. And again, like a boyfriend or girlfriend, if it’s meant to be, it’ll happen again. It’s important that we don’t dwell on what once was or what could have been. The past can never be changed. And when we dwell on something we cannot change, we only hurt ourselves. But of course, that’s always easier said than done.
    Maybe it would be nice if we were all 5 again. If even only for a moment. We could all re-live what it was like to be carefree with no stress to weigh us down. Where we would have all the time in the world to do what we can’t do now. Where we don’t judge each other and we can go to school and draw all day. Where our favorite subject is naptime and the hardest thing to spell is the word ‘cat’. When the only thing that would make it better is getting paid. And with the money we’d buy our friends a 64 pack of Crayola Crayons. Maybe it would be nice if nothing changed.