Topic selection and research framework

¶ … life of a teenager is full of vibrancy and youth. Young people have heightened senses compared to adults because they have not been dulled from years of use and misuse. To a child, fruit is sweeter and potato chips are saltier because the taste buds have not been worn away and damaged from burns, and the child has not mentally become accustomed to the taste and started to take advantage of it. Likewise, the emotional experiences of a young person are new and fresh and coming from an undamaged and undulled perspective. The desires of a young person are very strong, and if they are not obtained the disappointment felt is even stronger. However, if those wishes are granted and the person gets what he or she wanted and it turns out to be a disappointment, the pain felt is even stronger. According to George Bernard Shaw, there are only two tragedies in life: not getting what you want, and not liking it if you do get it. I experienced the first tragedy for a long time, then finally experienced the second.

Years ago, I fell in love with the boy who lived down the street from he. He was beautiful and talented, and even as a ten-year-old I could tell he was going to grow into a handsome and successful man. I imagined how wonderful it would be to go out with him, to date through high school, and maybe even get married when we were grown up. In the meantime, however, I just wanted to become friends, to get to know him and get to spend time with him. I introduced myself and we did become good friends. We hung out together, started playing football together and going to movies. It was wonderful, but every year that we spent together, I wanted more and more to tell him how I felt. I didn't though, because I didn't want to scare him off or to ruin our friendship, because he was a really good friend. He listened to me, cared about my feelings, took interest in the things I liked, and even defended me against other kids that bullied me. All of this, of course, made me want him even more. I couldn't stand not getting what I wanted any longer, and I started planning how I would tell him about my feelings and convince him to date me.

At my fourteenth birthday party, there were only a few people there. After everyone else left, my love interest stayed and helped to clean up, thoughtful as always. We gorged ourselves on the leftover cake and ice cream. Sitting on the couch alone with my parents gone for the day and the house all to ourselves, I thought this would be the perfect time to talk to him about my feelings. We watched television, played video games, and finally he started reading poetry to me. That had to be a sign that he felt the same way about me. I sucked up all my courage, and told him how I felt. I told him that I really wanted to go out with him, and that I'd been in love with him since we first met. He was quiet while I spoke, and seemed to think about what I was saying very seriously. When I finished, he sat for a while without saying anything, and I was so nervous waiting for him to say something. Finally, he said that it would be cool to go out together. I was so happy! I threw my arms around him.

We started going out together, officially. He took me to the movies, out to dinner, and even to a couple parties. At first, I was so happy, I finally had what I always wanted. Soon, however, I started to feel like something was wrong. There just wasn't the spark between us that there had been when we were just friends. We saw each other every day like we always had, but he didn't talk to me like he used to. He didn't tell me about his feelings or ask me what I was thinking about. It was like he had gone numb towards me. I didn't know what to do, and I didn't understand what I had done wrong. After a couple months, he broke up with me and he said we should go back to being just friends. I decided he was probably right. Unfortunately, things didn't go back to the way they were. It was awkward between us, we didn't talk like we used to, and we started spending less time together.