“It’s raining!” Those words were shouted throughout the house whenever the sky turned grey and the water started falling. “Get the umbrellas!” were the words that followed. When we were younger, all we wanted to do was play in the rain with our umbrellas. Those contraptions were what kept us dry. They were our protectors. My brothers and I would pretend that the rain was acid, and the only way that we could be safe, was to get under the umbrellas. They were our shields. Now we’re grown up, and all we do is sit inside while it rains. But those days are what brought us together. The umbrella was what kept safe, and as we grew up, all we wanted was to feel safe.

Society: the one thing that influences us the most. What we’re exposed to every single day no matter where we are. Rumors: the lies that people will believe because they’re so bored with their own lives, that they need to talk about other peoples’ struggles just to feel good about themselves. High school: the place where everyone says you discover yourself, but really it’s where you lose yourself. Then again, you need to be lost before you can be found. Teenagers: the most misunderstood and lost people in the world. We’re all just trying to build ourselves up, but while we do that, we watch others break down. No one said it would be easy. Then again no one said it would be this hard. Everyone wants to be accepted. Even the people who deny. We’re only human. That’s how we’re wired.

As a teenager, being accepted by our peers is one of our main goals. We’re at that point in life where we want the freedom to do things on our own, where we don’t want our parents to keep nagging us, and where we can just grow up. Although we want to grow up, we’re also scared… terrified of what is out in the world, and how it will change us. We’re terrified of the people who will break us, and leave us to collect our pieces by ourselves. We don’t know what we want. Our opinions and thoughts change faster than the speed of light. We’re confused, and more lost than ever at this point. We want freedom, but we also want the memories of when we were young and innocent to come to life again.

Although we want to grow up, we also want to go back to the days where the only thing that could hurt us was a boo-boo, and when mommy’s kiss was what made it all better. When we were all so innocent, and getting high only meant how high we could swing on the playground. Protection meant wearing a helmet. The worst thing we could get from someone was cooties. Daddy’s shoulders were the highest place on earth, and mom was our hero – the two people who always knew how to make everything better. Our biggest fears were monsters hiding under the bed and in the closet. Our worst enemies were our siblings, and race issues were about who ran the fastest. War was only a card game, and the only drugs we knew were cough medicine and the grape medicine that made our tummy aches all better. We couldn’t wait to grow up when we were little. Now all we want is those innocent times back.

I remember when my four brothers and I would all play together, and there were no girls except for me. My four brothers and me; us against the world. Whenever it was raining, we would go outside and make umbrella forts. We’d out our umbrellas together, and we’d all huddle underneath them to stay dry and warm. Whenever it was windy outside, my best friend, Molly, and I would go outside and try to fly away like Mary Poppins, or we’d out them in the water and pretend that they were boats. We wanted to get away so bad, to go on adventures together with our umbrellas taking us wherever we wanted to go.

We started growing up though, and those times were forgotten. Life became more real. Now we’re teenagers. Sleepovers become ravers. Juice becomes alcohol. Cooties become broken hearts. Footy pajamas become lingerie. Why did we want to grow up so bad? What were we looking forward to? I look back on those memories, and I think if only I could have an umbrella to protect me from the world like the one that protected me from the rain. Society, rumors, high school, expectations, friends, schoolwork, the world in general, even ourselves – all of these things put so much pressure into our lives. We give into things we shouldn’t. Whether its drugs, sex, and alcohol, or just the way we think, these things, these ideas of how we should be, add so much stress, worry, and unhappiness to the way we live. One might wish to have an umbrella – a shield from all these things that the world challenges us with. I’d say that teenagers need it the most. We’re just beginning to go out into the world. We’re just beginning to learn to deal with our own problems – just beginning to have the weight of the world put on our shoulders.

An umbrella would be nice. Something to keep all the drizzles of life off of us. We all just want to go back to those times where we were so carefree. But we can’t. An umbrella would bring back those times and make everything just that much better. But we can’t have that. It’s not possible. All we can do for protection from the trials of the world, is surround ourselves with the people who want the best for us, and the ones who will support us, and be there for us no matter what. The people who love us, and won’t talk bad about us behind our backs. The ones who are like us, also wanting a place in this big, harsh world. Being a teenager is hard. But it ends at some point. Everyone will grow up some more to become an adult, and we’ll look back and miss the days when we were younger. Yes, an umbrella would be nice to protect us from the world. But maybe we already have one. Not a tangible one, but one that’s made up of the people we need in our lives, and the people who need to be there. They are the ones who will protect us. They are part of our umbrella, and we’re part of theirs.

In the end, what really matters is that we stay true to ourselves, know ourselves, and be who we want to be. No matter how the world tires to change us, no matter how hard we get hurt, crushed, and stepped on, we’ll only grow back stronger. Because of this we’ll become beautiful. But remember that beautiful people aren’t born, they’re made. They don’t just happen. They’re made from knowing defeat, knowing struggle and suffering, knowing loss, but out of all of this they’ve overcome it and that’s what we need to do. We need to fight our way out. We were born to be real, not perfect. Not a mere image of the world. In being true to ourselves we are more amazing than when we try to be someone else. We need to stay true and be true. By doing so, we will surely find our umbrellas.