Teens.

Some of saddest people on the planet. Teens, we get upset and angry and overwhelmed nearly every day. Some of us learn to beat it and move on from it, but others struggle each and everyday to wake up and go to school. Those people who hate waking up each morning because there dreams are better than there actual life. Those people who go to school and pretend to be normal and happy just so nobody asks them whats wrong. Those people are the ones who know real sadness, they know that it is not easy to move on from their problems, because every time they leave one problem behind, another comes up right in front of them.

I’m sad to say that I am one of those people. I try to hide this sadness in me but I sometimes struggle and sometimes I just can’t do it. People who see me every now and again have no idea, and even my best friends have no idea. This is true sadness, I don’t even have anything to be sad about, I just am. It’s not depression that I have, I just struggle to stay happy for very long because something always brings me down.

I know that there is other people in my life that have the same problem as me but I’m not going to go looking for them and strive to help them because it won’t work.

Teens. We can experience true Sadness

The word “Sadness” derived from the word “sad”, it means affected by unhappiness or grief. In Old English the word sæd meant having ones fill of food or drink. Then the word started to develop into heavy or ponderous. This meaning in the sense of mentally or physically full. Now in Middle English in c.1300 the word got the meaning of unhappy and serious. It replaced the word Unrot which was the opposite of the word Rot, which mean cheerful and glad. The word then evolved into Sad and started being used in slang as “very bad”.

The “-ness” in Sadness  is from the word Sorrowfulness, with the meaning full of sorrow  or grief.

“Smile, even if it’s a sad smile, because sadder than a sad smile is the sadness of not knowing how to smile.” – (A.A. Milne, Winnie The Pooh)

People use sadness most of the time to describe somebody who is not doing to great at that moment. Sadness gets thrown around like it means absolutely nothing, people treat the word sadness like the people who have sadness, they act like it doesn’t deserve the respect that it should get.

Sadness has been a huge part of my life, ever since I have been little, I have experienced a lot of sadness. It ranges from when my father used to work away from home and I would only see him every 2 or 3 weeks to when Mike died only 2 and a half short years ago. Then there is leaving friends to move to a new country and leaving my old life behind me. But one thing that people don’t know about sadness, is that it is silent. You can’t spot it from a mile away, it could be right next to you as you read this. But it is not the be all and end all, you can over come sadness but first you have to be able to see it.

The word evil, meaning profoundly immoral and malevolent has traveled through the ages and along the way, like so many other words, has picked up extra connotations, and has morphed at least slightly. The modern use of evil is often to indicate the impact or gravity of a crime, for example the recent shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary. President Obama described the events that had befallen Newtown as  evil, “As a community, you’ve inspired us, Newtown. In the face of indescribable violence, in the face of unconscionable evil” and “no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world”.  The traditional use of the word is is the human urge to do something malign and despicable,  “If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”.  Despite these minuscule modifications, the main meaning of the word evil has stayed the same and it represents action and events actions and or events so heinous that no other words can aptly describe them.

Antonyms

• good
• beneficial
• virtuous
• holy
• pleasant

Synonyms

• Wicked
• Bad
• Sinful
• foul
• vile
• corrupt
• villainous
• malicious
• nasty
• filthy

http://www.businessinsider.com/sandy-hook-elementary-shooting-newtown-connecticut-2012-12

http://www.salon.com/2013/01/09/the_worst_sandy_hook_conspiracy_theory_yet/

http://www.npr.org/2012/12/16/167412995/transcript-president-obama-at-sandy-hook-prayer-vigil

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/evil

The word “reality” comes from the french word “realite” and directly from the nominative form of realitas in Latin. The meaning “real existence, all that is real” is from the 1640’s, and the definition “the real state of something” is from the 1680’s. Later on it also meant “sincerity”.

Uses in literature:

Edgar Allen Poe’s Poems

“tho’ that long dream were of hopeless sorrow,’Twere better than the dull reality Of waking life to him whose heart shall be, And hath been ever, on the chilly earth, A chaos of deep passion from his birth !”

Jack London’s Michael, Brother of Jerry

I looked down at my shaking hands.  Snap out of this! I hissed to my jumbled brain. I wiped the sweat off my palms on my shiny new dress. The sparkles soaking up each bead of sweat. I recalled every step in my recital for tonight. It wasn’t my first show, but I couldn’t help but get anxious and nervous. I carefully pick up my mask; the tassels on the top fall over and tickle my nose, I gently blow a quick breath of air to lift it back in place. I can do this, I have the strength.

Tonight was the big night, Mardi gras in New Orleans. Ten other girls readily plaster make up onto their vibrant young faces. Shimmer and feathers entangle themselves as each girl swiftly rushes to help each other. Flashes of neon pink, subtle yellow and exaggerated masks scurry across my vision.  The thick scent of rosy perfume filled the room with a mixture of cigarette smoke. It tickled the noses of every girl and entranced the men outside of their room. The background is blurred with quiet excited shrieks and hundreds of little conversations happening at once. A man comes pounding through the door screaming, “Five minutes to show time, gals!” And the pressure dampens the mood. Every girl frantically recite her moves and gives a little jump of excitement.

I sat all dressed and ready in the corner. I closed my eyes and tried to think about  the pure joy of being on stage. I rubbed my temples and tried to defeat my inner demons  My mind is telling me to stay inside this cramped room, but my body is yearning to step onto the stage.

It only takes 20 seconds of courage, and I promise something great will come out of it.* I mumbled to myself.

“Two minutes gals”

Alright, deep breaths, you can do this, you just have to show a little courage, you are fine.

The girls line up in the order that we practiced in for weeks. Every girl mumbles, jumps, gets the adrenaline going for an outrageous night. I suck in my last breath. You can hear the roar of laughter and drunk holars from outside the door. The bright lights begin to shine through the cracks of the door. Dark and light shadows dance on our faces. My hands suddenly stop trembling, and a surge of fearless, audacity comes forth. My mind sharpens and I face my nerves.

“3….2….1….Show time gals!”

We all prance onto the stage blinded by the bright lights, drowned in the bleating of the trumpets and shine our confident dance moves.

Happy Mardi Gras,

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT6tY2EZzjtWKIJiILFekB8tmVt078IC_uf-dNoVisAENf3sT9u

*Ben Mae