Dandelions are Beautiful

Thinking about it recently, on how much of an impact the books "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" and "The Catcher in the Rye" had on so many people in their younger coming of-ageness, including myself. These books told stories of introversion, and alienation, reaching out to "young adults" in a whole other channel, as opposed to the cliche' football hero/cheerleader lovefest. Did these two books impact in a positive or negative way? Personally, I feel like it fed the pain-body in those who were susceptible to such a relation, creating a separateness from the rest "I'm different, that's just not me, they just don't understand". Yes, the questioning is all apart of the coming-of-age process. The question is, is that healthy? Instead of just being, and enjoying moment to moment the small things in life, so many young-adults are just going through the motions to get by just another day. How tragic, their youth is invested on fear, and worrying; as opposed to love, enjoyment, and gratitude- completely throwing them off of their life's track's of the journey of finding their life's purpose. Reading and identifying with like-books and like-culture creates a comfort zone and feeds the invisible justification of being a victim, using blame as a reason to compensate for their irresponsible actions, carrying into their future careers, relationships, and belief of who they really are. If not aware of these things, it becomes a cycle, and some people never do become aware of these things. So next time you come into contact with a child or young adult, maybe give a small compliment on what you see that they're doing right, words that they do not here very often, you may spark the inner Mia Hamm, Michael Jordan, Steven Spielberg, Dr. Oz. Some of the people whom believe their duty is to guide them (ei: occasional teachers, parents, coaches) unconsciously give critiques on what not to do, or point out what they're doing wrong- in hopes that it will make a difference. It's not their fault, they mean well, but by pointing out what's wrong will only bring feelings of incompetence and failure. Which, might I add are really illusions, and do not exist, only when we believe they do.