Today’s teenagers often disregard and ignore traditional values, beliefs and traditions in favor of the modernized beliefs and values broadcasted by mass media and emerging beliefs. Some of these modernized beliefs and values even contradict and violate existing norms and beliefs, prompting the older generation to see teenagers today as disrespectful and ignorant towards the importance of these traditional beliefs, values and traditions. However, even if there are things that should change to fit the 21st century, there are some things that must remain as it is that teenagers, such as this writer, must understand. For this writer, understanding and learning about traditional values becomes significant especially as she enters a new school and community. After reading three incredible novels, this writer believes that teenagers today should value qualities such as courage, loyalty, open-mindedness, understanding, sacrifice and trust in order to grow as respectable citizens in the future.
Like most teenagers today, this writer does not, usually, read novels with either inspirational or historical content because of the common belief these novels are too broad to understand. It is also more satisfying for this writer to read new released literary works as it is more attuned to the imagination of today’s people. While some of these new literary works also have moral lessons or characters that make a mark to its readers, old titles show much more to this writer than current literary pieces. Not only were their stories informative, several characters from these novels emphasized qualities this writer believes are forgotten in today’s age. When the writer had the chance to identify the character and novel she found inspiring, three particular titles came into her mind.
The first title that came into mind is the novel “Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War” written by American journalist Mark Bowden and published in 1999. The novel documented the lives of the American fighters under the UN-sanctioned operation to intervene in the ongoing Somali Civil War, which started in January 1991.The mission by these US forces was to capture notorious Somali militia leader Mohammed Farah Aidid. However, as they tried to apprehend him, the Battle of Mogadishu (Operation Black Hawk) occurred in 1993 . Admittedly, all of the characters of this novel were very inspirational given the intricacies of war. However, it was Lead Ranger Jeff Struecker that taught this writer how to become more courageous and resilient despite the adversity at front. In the novel, Struecker and his team had to wade through the crossfire to once more despite the possibility of death to save their comrades who have fallen. His act not only showed his courage despite the fighting, but he also exemplified the loyalty to his team and trusted them as well to protect one another. For this writer, learning how to match Struecker’s brand of courage, trust and loyalty is ideal especially as she tries to fit in her new school. Nowadays, new students such as this writer, would often feel left out or avoided since they are new in the school. However, regardless of what people would think about new people in the block, a new person must be courageous and bravely cater to the questions and fight for the truth and justice. Trust and loyalty are also something teenagers like this writer take for granted because it is difficult today to determine one’s true allegiances given the various ideologies and behaviors of today’s people. Regardless of this problem, the trust and loyalty displayed by Struecker is perfect for today’s teenagers because trust and loyalty symbolizes that the person has the full faith and confidence of others. In this writer’s case, showing to others that she is trustworthy and loyal can help her gain real friends and overcome the challenges of being in a new location or situation.
While courage, loyalty and trust are good qualities people today should hone and develop, open-mindedness, understanding and sacrifice should also be retaught to teenagers today considering how important these values are for development. Jodi Picoult’s Plain Truth, published in 2001), caught this writer’s attention next not just for its story, but also with the characters that made the story’s plot very interesting. The novel was about a lawyer’s quest to discover the actual culprit behind an Amish infant’s death and if the mother of the said child had killed the infant . This writer found herself very interested with the characters of lawyer Ellie Hathaway and the Amish mother of the suspected mother Sarah Fischer. Hathaway found herself questioning the current and ‘perfect’ life she had with the life she had to live while trying to help her client. Nowadays, people try to exemplify perfection as they believe it is the road to success and riches. Stereotypes attatched to any person or object are classified as obstacles to perfection. However, when this writer read Ellie’s journey throughout her investigation, it showed that people should become open to new traditions and cultures because one cannot assume immediately that one belief is wrong just because it is different. Having an open-mind and understanding these varieties would also help people understand their peers better and for this writer, having these qualities while in a new school is handy to show respect towards different cultures and people. Aside from Hathaway, this writer also found Sarah Fischer quite interesting especially as to how she showed the value of sacrifice. Sometimes, people do not know how serious sacrifices meant, and others would even sacrifice for the sake of prestige. In Fischer’s case, she risked her freedom to save her unwedded daughter from the harsh consequences her pregnancy would bring to her once the public knew of her status. These types of sacrifices can be applied to teenagers such as this writer to the extent, there are some things in life that must be cherished, and sacrifices should be done if it is necessary.
Finally, Virginia Axline’s 1964 work “Dibs- In Search of Self: Personality development in play therapy” is another novel this writer found truly inspiring. In the novel, it follows the life of Dibs, an emotionally stunted prodigy and how the author tried help him open up and be understood by his family . Although the approached used by this author was quite different from other novels this writer read in the past, this writer found herself somewhat relating to Dibs. The reason this writer finds herself close to Dibs is because Dibs had to contend to a world that doesn’t try to understand or help him understand himself. It is the same feeling of every new student who finds himself in a new world. However, Dibs somehow knew that he can slowly open up to people the more people show they are trustworthy, exhibiting the importance of trust. For this writer, trust is something earned and valued and not just something that is bought.
In today’s age, values such as the ones highlighted by the characters of the three novels identified are mostly forgotten or taken for granted by many teenagers today. However, these forgotten values should not be seen as a hindrance or an old belief. For teenagers today, embodying traditional values and customs even in today’s modern world would not just help in developing his creed, but it would also guide them to a fulfilling future. This writer hopes that she can embody the values of the characters from these novels to become a better daughter, friend, student and citizen in the future.
Works Cited
Axline, Virginia May. Dibs - In Search of Self: Personality development in play therapy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1964. Print.
Bowden, Mark. Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War. New York: Signet Books, 1999. Print.
Picoult, Jodi. Plain Truth. New York: Washington Square Press, 2001. Print.
