Hi i havent posted anything on here before, (but have on the chicken keeping 1:D)
i just want 2 say that i often feel really strongly about protecting OUR environment,as we are the ones who have 2 live in it.
Also, we are the ones who are meant to be protecting our wildlife, if we dont do it,,,who is??????
i always help my parents in the garden, often planting new plants and keeping pets, and growing our own veg and even fruit.
However, its often difficult for me to do any more, this is because im a teenager, and i dont want my friends to think im ' uncool' i know i shouldnt care about what they think. But in todays society and also, in my school/group its very hard.
Hiya.
Of course you are the one to be thinking about it also, as you will be here a lot longer than most of us.
Just by not buying products or food that hasn't been eco friendly produced you are helping. You don't have to tell your friends. One day they may ask why don't you buy this or that and then you can state why. That way they are asking you and you are not pushing you views on others.
As time goes on and you leave school, whatever you do in your life. You can then get more involved and campaign on things you don't think are right. Be it global warming , animal rights or farm animal welfare maybe all three.
We all suffer from things our parents did, the thing is to try not to cause too many problems for future generations yourself.
You are doing good girl, don't get too despondant.
It is a beautiful world and worth every second of trying to protect it.
Wendy
My son is 18 years old and the way he talks to the ladies is terrible but the way he handles them is beyond gentle.
He also put up their coop, built their whole pen and even an assault course so they don't get bored. He digs worms for them while threatening them with becoming chicken pies if they don't lay him more eggs lol
Like Wendy says, it is what you do, not what you say that counts so, unless your friends feel the same as you (and more of them do than you think) don't worry about looking uncool. You can keep your friends and stay true to your beliefs.
Hi Pucca, If I concentrate very hard, I can just about remember what it was like being a teenager. It was very important to me that I fit in with my friends, I didn't want to be seen as different. So I did all the girly things, buy teenage magazines, try to keep up with the fashions, fell in love with the Beatles (especially Paul), watch the pop programes on the tele, and buy my makeup from Woolies.
But what I really enjoyed was going bike rides, collecting frogs, climbing trees, taking our dog for a walk, looking after my mice, playing with my brothers meccano set, and building dens in our back garden.
It's easier now that I am, cough - chuckle, grown up !!!! I do exactly what I like. So how is a 59 year old woman supposed to behave? People in my village think I am a bit strange, I trundle up and down the road with my wheelbarrow, I raid the takeaway's rubbish bin for plastic crates, I come and go at odd times, stopping up late, lying in bed late, slopping around the village in my scruffs, I cycle or walk the six miles to town, and back. I don't care.
It's cool to be yourself, you are unique, you don't have to be a clone of everybody else. I think you are cool to have a mind of your own, and to have worked out what is important to you. Try getting your friends to look at Down The Lane, you never know, they might like it.
Pucca, that is a very rewarding post and shows that not everyone of your age group should be stereotyped as hoodies and binge drinkers!!
Well done.
Like Charity beginning at home, so does saving the Planet. Too many people see it as someone elses responsibility, but every bit helps and every deed is a good one.
Also, caring about what others think is natural and shows concern for them as well.
It's a bit like Scouting. Bit geeky etc. When I was a District Scout Leader a few years back, some wouldn't go on the St. Georges Day Parade in fear of being seen by school mates.
I can understand that.
Maybe talking to your Head Teacher and formulating a project may be a way forward.
Somewhere, someone in your School will have the same thoughts as you - say a few 'feelers' to some mates and see what their reaction is.
Good for you.
Richard
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Being uncool is pretty cool in my mind. During my latter school days in the early eighties I tried my hardest to fit in with the cool kids. I even took up smoking to be cool; something I will regret until my probably premature death (stopped now thankfully). After twenty years it’s funny how the geeks (like me) have jobs and good life where as the cool kids are almost all terminally unemployed and/or unhappy with their lives. School reunions seem to be full of the uncool having fun together…. The cool don’t seem to want to share their lives with us. Cool is the outward visage, a coat that folk wear to impress their peers. Respect is something you gain from within; I doubt that there are many folk who’d respect the likes of Vicky Beck-I-am as much as the Dali Lama. What point is there to wearing the clothes that the designers industry tells you to wear if there’s no planet to be seen wearing them in?
Just be who you want to be, and if for now you keep it to yourself, then so be it. If it makes you feel better to fit in with your social group then that's ok. They don't have to know!!
Aww Pucca, that is a lovely post.
It's good that you think about our environment and how we can take care of it. I know sometimes it feels like it doesn't make much difference but if you think about all the people who feel that way it really adds up to a difference that's huge.
Are your parents into doing what they can environmentally?... it sounds like they are into this so maybe you could work out with them other ways you can do stuff as a family and as an individual.
People like to be seen as individuals but at the same time want to fit in with the group...everyone goes through it, so we all know how important it is (even if it was a little while ago!!). I guess even though it gets less important as you get older it's still a part of life.
Are any of your friends into things like you?...Do they know you have chickens?.......You never know they could be feeling the same as you...interested in the world, what is happening and how they can make a difference but not wanting to seem uncool....wouldn't that be weird eh.... all keeping quiet?...Hey you know your friends....could you hint at things?...for example the thing with Hugh Fernley Whittingstall and Tesco's. That's big at the moment and could be seen as pretty radical (not nerdy)as he's taking on a big supermarket about chicken welfare and he's got loads of other celebs involved too.... they told him he had to pay loads of money and he's got it.
Talking about that would give you an idea of who in your group is up for that kind of stuff and who isn't....it might be a way of finding out that your not the only one in the group who into stuff like this. If noone is interested then you haven't given too much away eh?
I think it's great that you are so interested in your world..like Wendy said you are going to be in it for a while longer than us and as you get older you can decide what you feel happy supporting and what you don't... Find out as much as you can from the internet and different sites interested in environmental and animal issues (noone will see you doing that so "cool" stays intact)... Good on ya.
It's not just teenagers who like to be part of their group.
But as we get older we can choose our groups more; people who share our priorities.
So I have a lot of friends and acquaintances who are folk dancers or folk musicians, its like a community, and where-ever you are you can be part of it. They are usually quite environmentally aware too.
Then we can be part of online communities with like-minded people.
But it is no use ramming your views down people's throat and preaching at them. A lot of the people who post on here are vegetarians and if they preached some of the rest of us might stop coming on, but they don't. They say things like 'this is my personal choice'. So we know where they stand but don't feel they are judging us.
Don't feel guilty about what you don't do, we all do a little but there is always more we could do if we took things to extremes. But you have to live your life as well.
I get very confused if I think about this too hard (as you may have noticed).
What a lovely post. you remind me pretty much of my own youth...oh so long ago. I spent every holiday on my grandad's farm, and i must admit i was never accepted as one of the football / drinking crowd in our village...I persuaded a teacher at school to start a gardening club (how geeky was I?) which was a resounding success, with over a dozen of us with out own little veggie plots. we had no fear of being bullied though, most of the members were strapping farmers lads who could wrestle cows to the ground.
Since then, nothing's really changed, I've suffered many a sideways comment as i transformed the garden of my RAF maried quarter in to a veg garden, i've kept allotments, putting all the effort into bringing them into a decent state, only to be posted. i've nearly upset my wife, when i dug up the lawn of our new house on a posh estate where the officers used to have their homes, and who already thought the upstart corporal wasn't worthy to be a neighbour (margo ledbetter would have felt quite at home on this residents association!)
basically what i'm trying to say is that you have to be yourself. It's very easy to try and conform, but many a cool kid is simply trying to find a strength in a pack, be true to yourself and you might find that you become the inspiration for others.
but I was Akela for many years LOL
