One might not realize, from what one
reads on sites and blogs around the internet, that five times as many teenage
boys commit suicide than girls. Young men have, too often, looked to
the rope or the gun as the solution to their torment, where
confession has been the salvation of many young women since long
before the internet existed.
Confession means admitting to ones
sins, that is, recognizing who one is — the faults and failings as
well as the strengths and successes. There is a reason to put this
into words. It is so we can understand it, recognize ourselves for
who we are.
As Flannery O’Connor put it, “I
write because I don't know what I think until I read what I say.”
So if young people ‘whine’ a bit, that’s a good thing. If they
write confessional poems, good or bad, it’s all part of better
understanding themselves.
I’m still discovering that, at my
age. It goes on all ones life, I suspect, if one is truly living.
Stephen Brooke ©2013
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