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Published on 05/12/1999 All articles from this issue

Crittenden teens react to Columbine shooting through poetry

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Special to the Town Crier

The April 20 massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., that left 15 dead struck a deep nerve all over the country, particularly with teens.

Eighth-grade students at Crittenden Middle School in Mountain View captured their feelings about what it is like to be a teen in today's world in the following poems:

It's Tough to be a Teen

It's tough to be a teenager; no one really knows.

The pressure in school, this is what happens and in life.

We have to deal with drugs and crime.

Will we stop this in time?

We have peer pressure; it isn't easy.

When I get pressured, I get queasy.

We deal with work every night,

but I barely get to finish it because my schedule is too tight.

It's annoying when I hear people whining like a baby

then I hear a shout, "Give him what he wants," says the lady.

We deal with personal problems,

and it boils in us.

Sometimes we don't have anybody to talk to.

We ask ourselves, "Do we deserve this?"

We deal with strict teachers at school;

they think it's their job to discipline us.

We deal with gangsters on the streets;

why do people get killed for no reason?

It's tough to be a teenager; no one really knows.

The pressure in school, this is what happens in our lives.

- By Mario A. Garcia, 13

It's Tough to be a Teen

It's tough to be a teenager, pressure all about,

Making right decisions, figuring things out.

I've got to make the honor roll, my parents always say.

They don't know how hard I try every single day.

I begin my homework in the day and finish in the night.

Later on I figure things out, hoping that they're right.

My friend brought a knife to school, wonder what to do.

Should I even tell, who should I go to?

Sometimes I get really confused, I try to think things through.

No one ever seems to care, I just don't know what to do.

I have not a single answer, yet I have so many questions.

I ask my friends questions, but all that comes up is tension.

My parents always try to solve my problems,

They don't understand that I have to solve them myself.

It's tough to be a teenager, not everything goes as planned.

Some things may come easy, but things won't just fall into your hands.

- By Victoria Chu, 13

Read more poems at www.losaltosonline.com.