Today, the blog is going to be a bit of a rambling mess. The end of February brought on the countdown to Spring Break (yay!), which in turn will bring on a countdown to summer. I mean, I have a Widget on my phone screen that tells me how close we are to my pool opening. I cannot wait for summer, and let me emphasize this, I cannot wait to become a Senior. I feel guilty, but at this point, I am wishing away my Junior year, the rest of my high school experience, and I don’t know how to stop.
Before I go any further, I’d like to clarify, juniors do not have an end-of-the-year slump in the same way seniors do. I am in no way trying to compare my experiences with what I’ll refer to as ‘junioritis’ to ‘senioritis.’ Frankly, from what I’ve heard, there is no comparison. But, oh my gosh. This year feels like it will never end. In some ways, it's also gone so fast. Generally though, never-ending.
Let me format my case: I have been in high school for almost three whole years now. I have one more year left. Out of those three years, I spent a cumulative one year online. Really, I haven’t had a normal year of high school, and that may be why I really don’t get the hype surrounding high school. Now, with one year left, I’m losing all of my motivation. And I know I’ll come out of it, after all, it’s March and everyone is exhausted. This miniature slump that I’m in though allowed me to have empathy for those who feel like this all the time. More than junioritis, there are people who struggle with this feeling or worse daily. The situation my generation is in doesn’t make that better. Technology and social media, Covid-19, political division.
We turn on the news, and we see autocracy — in Russia, in past presidents. We fear for our future, and we mourn for Ukraine. We aren’t unique, our struggles aren’t unprecedented (besides social media…I want to do a full post on that…this is more so a ramble). God, I mean, on top of everything in the world, people are just cruel sometimes. I’m in a group chat for the juniors at my school, and some of the things sent in that group chat have no purpose other than to hurt people. On the largest and smallest scales, our world is hurting, and its children are hurting. People hurt others so that others do not hurt them. We have been taught that. But what about when there's no threat? No reason to invade another country, no reason to send that mean photo in a dumb group chat. I refuse to believe that people can be inherently bad. As I get older and see more, my confidence in that point cracks. Putin is a bad man in the same way Hitler was a bad man. So I pose the question: Were they born that way? Can one be born inherently bad?
I relate my struggle with empathy and junioritis to the current war in Europe, not because they are akin to one another. I know the magnitude of the war in Ukraine is much larger, unfathomable to someone who has never been politically aware enough to watch a war from the safety of my home. But, my point is related to the goodness of people. We are tired. High schoolers are so exhausted. Throughout the world, life has been on pause. Our high school experience has been put on pause. It’s not fun for anyone. We have the empathy to understand that. In a time of so much division and hurt and bombings and unwarranted war and dictators. In an era where we watch the war in Ukraine from our couches. While the scope of war and the scope of high school issues are different, the root is the same. Why be cruel? Why cause harm?
To those reading from the United States (almost every single one of my readers): Be conscious of the jokes you make and the things you say regarding the war. One thing CNN cannot show you is what it feels like to lose your home, to have your brother/father/uncle/cousin/
For most of us, junoritis is the biggest struggle we face currently — as most of my readers are juniors — and for that, we are so lucky. Empathy is the biggest thing I have had to work on developing throughout my life, and I am still working on it, but employing it helps me to become a better citizen and friend. Be kind. Don’t assume you know what others are going through.
There is so much evil in the world, most of us have never seen a conflict of this magnitude, and all of this comes while so many are struggling with the pandemic and other worldwide conflicts. Life is hard, and being kind will not solve these worldly problems, but begin with having empathy for each other. To answer my previous question: I truly have always believed evil is born of situations and traits. Help each other to grow. Do not add to the unrest and wickedness in this world. Lift one another up.
Amelia Burgess
Photo by Artem Beliaikin on Unsplash
Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash
Re-printed from another blog
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