Childhood- ever thought about it?..well, it is such a paradoxical phase of life !... when I was a child, (I am a teenager now..:P), all that I wanted was to grow up, to claim the sky as my own, to do what I wanted to, and now, oxymoronic as it seems to me, all I want is to go back in time. Obviously, then, it was all very innocent, all my wishes, all my ambitions, all my accomplishments!..I do remember, it was a time when being reprehended for not doing h.w. or getting low grades in a test meant a lot to me !...Crying at the slightest and now, that I realize, the stupidest moments, was all too much a part of everyday, not that it isn’t now ( only the reasons have become more serious, but I guess, in some years, they too will be in my category of ‘stupid’). When being asked to sit with a boy meant the ugliest punishment, When opinions were most affected by what people around me thought, I’ve grown up to craft up my own beliefs that have been shaped by my experiences, my conscience, and my mistakes, of course. When broken hearts were nothing more than a fight with a friend over some petty issue ( like a place to sit). When hurting meant physically, nothing more. When I couldn’t understand why mom had changed the channel (:D..i do the same now). When all we thought of guys was as ‘losers’ ( remembers the girl-boy thing?..girls are best ?.:D) When goal meant getting a good score, or getting the new ice-cream in town( remember telling your parents about it?) . When all tension meant was bagging a place in the annual play. When acceptance meant you? When wants meant ‘getting a new video game’?..When hurting someone was confined to laughing when someone fell, but getting them together when you saw them crying?..It all seems a thing in the past, doesn’t it, now? When bad manners meant taking more chocolates than you ought to ?..When lying meant making an excuse for not doing your assignment?..When you didn’t know what being innocent meant, ( “do u mean that puppy dog face”?..:P), while all you were was that, all the time!..well, that is what makes it so beautiful!..the naivety that surrounds children!.. . Then, I was not scared to say what I felt like, because I wasn’t scared of people judging me..! When I entered the long-craved teenage( as we call it), the first issue was of my best friend outgrowing me, and believe me, it was tougher than i thought. Then, I was not judged by the clothes I wore, not by how I looked, nor by the number of people I knew! They never took me as a ‘means’. Well, as we grow up, we become more ‘thoughtful’, I suppose, thinking more about how to get what we want, and our priorities change. If that is what growing up means, today, I long to live those moments again!..I don’t want to be someone who is more affected when the guy she likes( who doesn’t even give a damn about her) is fretting over losing a game, rather then when her friend is in a problem far worse than she should be!..i don’t want to be someone who cares more about how she looks, than caring about what she, as an individual can do to change the scene for the better. I definitely don’t want to be someone, who watches as the shy girl in the corner, breaks down, because she isn’t even given a chance!. I don’t want to be someone who just cares whether she is accepted, and makes fun of those who aren’t!..I DON’T WANT TO BE SHALLOW! Well, i am not blaming teenagers( I am one too!), what i condemn is our ignorance and that bigot-attitude!..Remember that fat girl who could never answer you back, because she knew it would never end?..Remember that guy with the ‘uncool’ tag who was a marvel at chess, but was tired of being picked on? Remember that girl you used to tease, saying,’ what do you have a mouth for if you don’t speak?’..Remember that girl the whole class left alone because she was such a baby?...Well, some of you may remember being on one end and some on the other!..Why do we have to pick on people?..why do we have to make them lose their confidence?..Bullying?..well, Is that what strength and popularity means?..You know what, crying doesn’t mean you are weak, but bearing it all does. If there’s somebody who doesn’t please you, who thinks being a bully ( be it simple ‘picking on’ or ‘extreme bullying’) is being strong, just remember that it is not something that makes them strong, rather it is a weakness. They do what they do because they are cowards. Before somebody else picks on them, they do it. But people, be it bullies or the victims ( a strong word, yea?), just get one thing straight, KARMA’s a bitch!..What goes around does come back around! And if you have something today, it doesn’t mean it will last forever!.,.and if you don’t, well, it will find a way of coming to you sometime or the other..SO keep that in mind, and think before you call somebody something that you wouldn’t want to be called! For once, try to step in their shoes, and I bet, you’ll see!..Stop accepting it the way it is!..We may not realize, but it often leaves a wound so deep inside, that it’s impossible to heal!..Don’t be led down that road!..Be a fighter!( I don’t mean it literally..:P)..Remember, what is their right is yours too, and vice-versa. Remember, if they wouldn't have raised their voice, and believed in themselves, the racist-scenario could never change, nor could we have ever become the country we had never never even thought of!..well, these are issues too strong! but,Never surrender, act as if you don’t care, and believe me, it would eventually stop. And most importantly, remember ‘every dog has his day!’…SO, why not tell them that? Face them with all your confidence, stand up to what you feel isn’t right, and see where you end. Attitude and confidence matters a lot. Don’t be all ‘an eye for an eye’, but tell them that you are what they can never even think of being, ‘You are what you are!’, and nothing and nobody in this world can change that!