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May - June 2000 The Sabbath Sentinel
A Teen's View of Her World
by Mandie Nickels
As a teenager, I am bombarded with many temptations and
trials every day. Sex, drugs, alcohol, and profanity is
everywhere. Peer pressure is a daily mine field for me,
as it is for all teenagers. When will these troubles
ever end?
Sex is openly discussed and even experimented with among
my peers. In Health class, instead of being taught not
to do it, we are taught how to do it "safely." Yes,
teenagers are still going to have sex, even with a four
hour lecture on how dangerous it is --- but it is
abstinence which should be taught, rather than safety.
In school, I must hear the word 20-30 times a day. Just
walking down the halls in school, I often overhear
something with sexual overtones. Sex is common part of
our everyday language as teenagers. "Should I do it with
him?" "Do I love him?" "Do I love him enough to do it
with him?"
What's that all about? What ever happened to the meaning
of love? Does love equate to sex? To some teenagers, the
sad answer is "yes."
In school, my Health teacher showed us a survey from a
poll taken last year. One in two teenagers will graduate
from high school without their virginity. That means
that 50% of my classmates are going to break God's Law
on that one commandment alone!
That sounds incredibly hard to believe. Yet, since I
attend school regularly with these teenagers, it really
isn't too hard for me to believe. Allow me to share a
story that I heard, the other day, from one of my
friends. It was about a girl that I didn't know very
well.
She was four months pregnant, and at a party one night,
she had smoked so much "pot" (marijuana) that she had a
miscarriage in the bathroom. Amazingly, she (apparently)
came out afterwards and continued to light up! I hope
that this was just an awful rumor, but these terrible
things do happen.
Recently, I got a job at a fast food restaurant (to
generate funds for a car). I was appalled to find out
how many teenagers smoke cigarettes! Out of 32 people
that work there, 21 of them are teenagers --- and of
them, most are regular smokers; only three teenagers who
don't spend their breaks polluting their lungs.
Not long ago, I was required to attend an employee
meeting. We were all forced to wait outside because our
supervisor had not arrived to unlock the doors --- and
nearly every single employee was smoking! I was forced
to stand there, waiting, while my friends polluted their
lungs --- as well as my lungs (with their
secondhand smoke). SOME FRIENDS!
Sometimes the inability of my classmates to see how they
are damaging their bodies just disgusts me. Why can't
they see how they are hurting themselves and their
friends by their thoughtless actions? "If
your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw
it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your
body than for your whole body to go into
hell."-Matthew 5:30.
I believe that I would gladly lose an arm or a leg
rather than to be thrown into hell. However, it is clear
that many of the youth today, including my own friends,
would not. I find that incredibly sad. ... Please let's
pray together for today's youth before it's too late.
Mandie Nickels is the daughter of Rich and
Shirley Nickels, longtime servants of God and His
children.
TSS
May - June 2000 The Sabbath Sentinel
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