Fear

Fear’s shadow is always next to me, saying, “Don’t be scared about life.” He is my reflection; my dark reflection. “My shadow’s the only one that walks beside me,” Green Day sings in “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.” “I walk alone.” Sometimes we sit next to Fear. Maybe you think that if you run away everything’s going to be better. But that’s not true. You have to confront your problems. Fear told me about his friend, Forgiveness. He told me that Forgiveness teaches you to forget the bad moments in life and only remem- ber the good things -- the ones that are going to help you stay there and be with Love.

Playfulness is a man who likes to play around. If you pass by his class, you will see him doing nothing and talking to his classmates. Playfulness likes to make jokes in school so people can laugh. In class, he always gets up for no reason. That’s when he’s present at all. Playfulness always has an excuse for coming late to class. Playfulness used to be a quiet soul. But a friend told him that he had to talk more and chill with others.

                                                             Now, Playfulness won’t stop fooling around.

Craziness wears a red sock on his left foot and a black one on the right. Craziness is a boy who doesn’t care what others say about him. He just lives his life by smiling all the time, even if he’s sad. Craziness has long hair. He enjoys making people laugh. He doesn’t worry, even if he gets in trouble. He is friends with Happiness. Craziness loves to be different from others. That’s how he got his name.

Happiness is never sad. People don’t understand how Happiness comforts himself. He gets that way because he’s Happy. He always feels free. Without freedom, Happiness doesn’t mean anything. Happy people know why they are on earth. Happiness wears a white T-shirt ev- erywhere he goes. White reflects others. No matter where Happiness wears his white T-shirt during his travels, he never seems to get dirty. Happiness loves Loneliness be- cause he wants to make her happy. But he doesn’t have the strength to tell her. He needs to go and talk to Courage.

Many students generally object to certain subjects they feel are tedious and useless. Teens often ask questions like, “What’s the point of learning this? How will it help me in the future?” Here, some students discuss specifically why they don’t like certain subjects and what they would rather study. Maroua Laafar, 16, dislikes anything that has to do with biology because, she says, it’s complicated. “If you’re going to major in bio, then yeah it’s important to study it, but other than that, no,” says Laafar, who attends the John D. O’Bryant School of Math & Science. Laafar says she would prefer to study psychology because you learn how people act. Lianelisa Perez, 15, dislikes science and geometry because she says she does not understand them. She feels that you don’t need to know all that information unless it’s required for the profession you want to be in. Instead, she says she would be more willing to take an extra history class. “It is important to know what happened before,” she says. “I love history.” Daiahna Odom, 15, dislikes science and doesn’t think it’s practical. “I don’t plan on becoming a rocket scientist,” she says. “I feel as if science is not going to help me when I get older.” She’d rather study economics; it’s a good way, she says, to learn how to manage your money.