“You have to lose your innocence- we’re going to make sure you do by the end of this year.” I’m a graduating freshman from high school, and this is the statement that I have heard on a daily basis. I’m not exaggerating- everywhere I go, it’s people cracking dirty jokes that I don’t understand. While trying to do homework in orchestra, while having a free day in math, I just stood (or sat) dumbfounded while everyone was laughing like crazy. In both situations, people tried to make me “lose my innocence.” I repeated the same statement that I have grown so tired of saying because of the number of times that I have had to say it- “I would like to, if possible, keep my innocence.” And I am known for this innocence. I’m so innocent that I don’t know what “that’s what she said” means- still don’t, hope I never do, and so far, no one’s attempts to explain have reached me. (Don’t explain it to me either.) Although some people claim to be proud of their perverted minds, I told them one thing- an innocent mind can always become perverted at any time, but a perverted mind can never become innocent.
Think of a pink elephant.
Okay, now try to not think of a pink elephant.
It’s hard, isn’t it? When you tell yourself to not think of something, doesn’t that just make us think about it even more? That’s why someone has to concentrate on the good things- and that’s why I know that if I understood the dirty jokes, I would crack them right and left like nobody’s business. But so far, I’ve been spared from doing that. I’ve been able to stand up for myself, to not give in to peer pressure and allow myself to understand these things. I don’t want to understand these things. I enjoy being pure- I may be missing out on something, but ignorance is bliss. A child doesn’t need to understand those things to be happy- and consider me childish, but neither do I. I’ve told everyone that I would like to keep my innocence. As much as people tried to change that, they haven’t been able to. But their efforts still bother me. Their efforts are not completely futile. And in the end, I feel like it’s made me kind of lose a sense of who I am.
I think that this difference in me from other ninth graders should allow me to say this one thing-
Let me keep my innocent mind.
Think of a pink elephant.
Okay, now try to not think of a pink elephant.
It’s hard, isn’t it? When you tell yourself to not think of something, doesn’t that just make us think about it even more? That’s why someone has to concentrate on the good things- and that’s why I know that if I understood the dirty jokes, I would crack them right and left like nobody’s business. But so far, I’ve been spared from doing that. I’ve been able to stand up for myself, to not give in to peer pressure and allow myself to understand these things. I don’t want to understand these things. I enjoy being pure- I may be missing out on something, but ignorance is bliss. A child doesn’t need to understand those things to be happy- and consider me childish, but neither do I. I’ve told everyone that I would like to keep my innocence. As much as people tried to change that, they haven’t been able to. But their efforts still bother me. Their efforts are not completely futile. And in the end, I feel like it’s made me kind of lose a sense of who I am.
I think that this difference in me from other ninth graders should allow me to say this one thing-
Let me keep my innocent mind.
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