Kids today..

What influences kids the most today? Is it their peers, family members, TV, music or something else?

So here's a short story of what happened on the Wednesday of the second last week of school, i.e. 9thMay2007, coincidentally my Dad's birthday now I think about it.

Anyways, me, AJ and BB (names initialised to conceal identity) are walking into school after lunch, and so there's this bunch of students (Yr8s according to CC) sitting at the steps. And of course, being impossibly dense, they're blocking the path. So while I'm there signing everyone in, AJ starts walking down those stairs.

More like tries walking down those stairs. And then one of the Yr8s tell some friend of theirs, can't recall the name, to get out of the way. So I'm right behind AJ and I open my mouth and say,

"Yeah. Stop blocking the stairway."

I take a few more steps when suddenly behind me a voice rings out, extremely clear.

"*@#^ off!"

So I'm pretty shocked. Now it's one thing to be told that jokingly by a friend. But from a Yr 8 kid who's half my size and 6 years younger??

In disbelief, I glance around. "Pardon?"

"Yeah. *@#^ off!" was the reply. And then his bunch of friends start laughing. As if they scored a victory over some sixth former. Blah.

Now several options ran through my head at this moment.
1. Instinctively turn around, pick the boy up by the scruff of his shirt, and ask him the question one more time. Now this would have been a great option, except I think it's also classified as assault.
2. Turn around and confront him face to face, while his friends scatter and make a run for it, abandoning their smart-mouth friend to confront my wrath. Problem is, my thoughts were so scrambled at this point that my smart mouth wasnt in the mood to give someone a lecture.
3. Walk away. Give him his moment of immature triumph. This pettiness is way below me.

So I picked option 3, since I was facing the opposite direction anyways. Was too lazy to turn back around. Of course as I walk down that extremely long - and really Malaysian uneven - pathway, I was happily considering Option 2. But I guess as the distance grew longer, I kinda felt a bit..sad.

It's kind of sad the kind of kids we have today. Now of course, it's possible that this happens in an international school anyways. But i doubt that too.

So why is it that kids have such 'smart mouths' nowadays? Why are they so immature. Just two days later, on a Friday, they were fighting with the two protagonists being cheered on by their friends - wait a minute, I thought they were all friends? Or is it that this is the 'cool' group and everyone wants to join in. So they're not really good friends but just a bunch of kids who are trying to fit in with the popular guy/girl and the popular guy just loves being the center of attention (probably the same guy with the smart mouth) but otherwise has no good friends.

Well that's my theory of school society in any case. But it's kinda sad that the lower years are becoming quite immoral. Why do kids feel the urge to turn to all kinds of stuff like sex, drugs, what they think is cool rebellious disrespectful behaviour, e.t.c.?

Mmm. Well. Kids today. What can you say?