It’s everywhere: on the television, in books, bill-boards on the side of the street, and on blinking lights in the city. The media and society tell teenagers who to be, how to act, who to hang around, and what is right and what is wrong. But the truth is, once rebellion, vulgarity, and chaos sinks in, there is always the emptiness that replaces the fulfillment that was desired.

Over the past few years, the common teenager has struggled with things that they see in society today. If a piece of clothing is put onto display, teens are not cool unless they follow the media’s rules. The media’s rules tell teens how to look so they can be cool how to speak to get people to like them, and what truth is and what a lie is.

There is issue upon issue, case upon case of teenagers hurting themselves or causing pain to others just to be “cool.” What is “cool?” Does anybody really know the definition of cool in terms of what society says?

Society uses so many different mediums to tell teenagers that if they speak a certain way, then people will like them. But all that is said is hurtful words, cursing, and inappropriate slang, all because they think it’s “cool.”

To be blunt, society is like an undetectable sickness – a disease, infesting the youth like a poison. It makes teenagers and young adults question their morals and values. Self-worthiness, beauty, value, and self-confidence go out the window. Society and the media don’t care about value, self-worthiness or confidence. All it cares about is selling the next product.

Beneath the surface of the media, there is nothing but emptiness, an unsatisfactory desire that every teenager and young adult deal with. It’s a battle against what is true and what is fake. Teenagers think that the media will give them the desire to be cool, beautiful, or handsome, but what they get in return is emptiness.

Instead of telling teenagers and young adults how to act, look, feel, and what truth is and what a lie is, why not show them the worthiness, the value, and the self-reflected jewel that they are?  The media and society tells teenagers to do what the media tells them to do in order to be a jewel, but the truth of the matter is, it only makes them feel like black, ugly, ridged stones.

A society that crumbles, burns, and buries its youth and children will only get ashes instead of pearls. A society should tell its people to be the jewels, pearls, silver, and golden gems that they are, not be stainless steel with a gold paint. No matter how many things teens buy, no matter how much of the latest product someone has, is it really relieving the desire to be excepted? Or is it all for nothing?