Story of A Teenager

I was horrified when I read this news a few days back, in Harian Metro. It's about a 16 years old, who've had sex with her schoolmates and her schoolmates' friends. In two years, she's had sex with 30 guys! And they'd do it during school time too. Astaghfirullah...!! What the hell is happening??

Hey, I was a teenager once...and a rebelious one too. I guess I gave my parents more headaches than my other siblings. And lucky for them that I was the only girl. The Malays say that taking care of a herd of cows is easier than taking care of one daughter (Jaga lembu sekandang lebih senang dari jaga anak pompuan sorang). Now, I would agree to that, no doubt.

Tell ya, there were a lot of times when I thought of running away from home...just because my father wouldn't let me go out with my friends or wouldn't let me join an after-school activity or when my mom accused me of trying to 'menggatal' (make out) with some guys. And I did run away from home...a couple of times...to my aunt's or my gramps. That's about it. Never have I thought of running away with a boy somewhere, you know. Let alone 'offering' myself to my schoolmates!

I wore tudung to school but after school I'd don the scarf. And I was a tomboy...told ya previously. But at the same time I was into rock & roll too. At that time there were Ella & The Boys...... Lefthanded...Search...Wings...and such. Akon or Miley Cyrus weren't even born yet, I guess. And yes, I listened to the music at home, much to the displeasure of my parents. I'd listen to the music (and watching the TV at the same time) while I did my homework too.

But know what? When I was in Form 3, less than 1/3 of the class knew nothing about 'sex'...and 2/3 of the class refused to let the teacher taught us anything about 'sex' 'cause we thought it's 'yucky'. There were only a handful who had read Mills & Boon (then, this romance novel was very famous)...and the rest, never even heard of the novel!

So what actually happened to that girl in the news? Why did she do what she did? Wasn't she aware of the sins...the consequences? I wonder if anyone or any organisation did any studies to find out the root cause of these problems with the youths today. Was it peer pressure... lackadaisical parenting... couldn't-care-less teachers... too much influence and exposure by the Internet... obsession with the hi-tech gadgets like handphones ('cause she mentioned that she used the money to buy to-ups for her prepaid card and a new phone)...WHAT?

And I dare not think what will happen in another 15 years to come...when my little girl would be a teenager herself. I'd dreaded those days, especially if I'm not around to see her through.