Responsibility

Today's youth are lacking communication skills that are important in life. I know I'm lacking some. Many teens are use to text talk and emoticons. Also, teens are use to talking over a computer and not necessarily caring about a person's feelings. It's easier to to take responsibility for our words when we say them face-to-face then when we talk over electronics. With electronics, you can't see how the person who is receiving what you are saying reacts. It is less clear to see if you hurt a person, and say you're sorry.
Another problem teenagers face is they don't know how to effectively communicate when they are face to face. Many are either passive, or they are threatening. When you are passive, then you don't really get your input in and you are stuck doing what everyone else tells you to do. If you are threatening, then most people will become defensive, and you create more arguments. But if you assert yourself, but not in a threatening way, then it is easier to get your point across, and to compromise.
Compromise is key too. You can't always have your way. You need to let some other people have a turn to do what they like. This may come as a shock to some, but the world doesn't revolve around you. So it would be nice if you could give up just a little of what you want to do and compromise and let someone else choose the activity.
I was bored in class one day when I wrote this poem, and I thought that it could be useful to help to make my point clear. The first two lines is the speaker taking responsibility for what they have said. The rest of the poem is the speaker talking to someone who needs to change their behavior. You can see that the speaker isn't threatening the other person, but the speaker is taking a stand on how they feel. In the last line of the first stanza, the speaker is compromising with the other person, by saying that the person doesn't need to be perfect, but the person needs to change some of their behaviors. I pray you take this poem and apply it when you speak. (And no, this doesn't mean you have to say everything in a poem.) Please Enjoy!

The Kid You Can Be

I'm here to say I'm sorry,
Sorry for all I have said.
Your job is harder
Then what I know.
I know you are not perfect.
No one is...
    Still

It would be nice,
If you stopped the drugs;
If you stopped the parting;
If you stopped this image,
And go back to the kid
I know you can be.

You don't need all of this,
Too be cool.
You just need you friends and family.
So I ask you please,
Go back to the kid
I know you can be.