Evolution of teenage wasteland

In Reading “Teenage Wasteland” Donna Gaines discusses the issue of teenage suicide and why this has become such a growing problem in society. The focus of Gaines study on teenage suicide is on suburban youth. These kids that are leading down the road toward suicide and bodily harm have been labeled as “burnouts, druggies, and losers”.   These kids are near the bottom academically, economically, and socially. As Gaines puts it, “”these groups have signified young people’s refusal to cooperate”. They just don’t really fit into any really niche in there schools such as the preps, jocks or brains. Therefore they feel like they have nowhere to turn and no one that understands them. Gaines explains through this article how she is trying to figure out there mindset and she wants to understand the reasons for why teens are turning to suicide and whether “this is a cult, a fad, a hobby, or something else”. 

Teenage wasteland reading left me in a some what emotional state, to a point i felt like anything i wrote or said would be met with venom in my mouth, and i had to step away and view this from a sociologist perspective. in actuality I know and some how forgotten what it meant to be the ''outcast'' or better yet the "burnout" never really fitting in or understanding why i just didn't.. One of the major reasons many believe teens are resorting to suicide is because of boredom. They feel isolated and have nothing to do. However I don’t agree that boredom should be consider a reason for turning to suicide. You need to make an effort to find something you enjoy. You can’t be expected to have everything given to you. Suicide should never be the answer for boredom. Although I do see some truth to this, because boredom can lead to depression if you cant find happiness. When these so-called “burnouts” are bored that’s when they turn to doing bad things, whether it is drugs, drinking and other bad activities. They are basically just trying to have enough fun just to get through the day and “their way of fighting back is to have enough fun to kill themselves before everything else does” 

Through out the reading i kept asking myself why and when the answer a raised i was met with another questions... in chapter two it explained the norm of common sense and basically tradition, why people didn't question things or try to at least find the truth they base their answers on biased observation and interpretation of the truth, blaming there role models and the clique they were in. Donna Gaines used empirical evidence to find somewhat of the truth or better yet a better understanding of this social group called the ''others'' i couldn't help but wonder if society has to much exceptions for us,we,me,you, the other are we burden with the simple legacy to hit the ground face first, with our destiny already written for us or should we say FUCK SOCIETY and be who we truly are just Different in every sense of the word... A GREAT SCHOLAR ONCE SAID WE DESTROY THE THINGS WE DO NOT UNDERSTAND'. Gaines concludes her article by giving her explanation for why she believes so many teens have been committing suicide. She believes that teenage suicide will not go away until kids’ bad lives go away.