A Modern Day Twain Story

Once upon a time, a beautiful angel visited a youth's room whilst he was asleep and woke him up. Groggily, the youth woke up. The angel introduced herself as a being who had appeared to grant him a wish for his life was abhorrent with poverty and no friends. The angel told the youth that she would offer him five choices and out of them the boy would choose one and that would come true. The angel offered the youth: love, wealth, fame, wisdom and death. Almost instinctively, the youth chose love. Soon, he met a girl and fell deeply in love with her and so did she. They were married within a year and lived a very happy but modest life. However, one unfortunate day, the lovely lady was caught in a car accident and died. The youth wept and wept. Finally he wept no more but inside, was very numb. The beautiful angel appeared before the youth and told him that love is just a feeling. She told him that love is not something which goes beyond the grave and that love is just temporary. She assured the youth that with time, his wounds would surely heal and decided to offer him another wish for the youth was in a depression as deep as tartarus. The boy chose fame. Soon, the boy began to be known by many in his neighbourhood and in a week, the whole city knew him. Within a year, he was the most famous person in his country with over 50 million followers on all social media. Wherever he went, he was engulfed with fans and admirers. Paparazzi flowed in and out of his house and his face appeared on every magazine's cover. He met with famous people almost everyday. But the youth still felt very empty for he had not accomplished anything in life and realised that his life's leading to a very sorry future. He could not bare the fame for it was too much pressure and longed to go back to being a normal person. In a few years, the angel appeared in front of him and he begged for a new wish and the angel smiled and offered him the other three. The boy chose wealth and almost instantly, his bank account was worth more than any other person in the whole world. The boy retired in comfort and took up have gambling, alcoholism and abused all the drugs known to man. Within 30 years, he was reduced to a middle class person and longed to have forgotten his rich past to which he couldn't ever return. What first world problems were these! He longed for the angel to return and when she did, he begged her for wisdom for he was a very foolish person. The senior was now engulfed in books and within a decade, he was the wisest person to ever exist. he knew the secrets of life and the reason for the very existence of man. he knew everything about the world. Years passed by and the man was now ensured that all of his wisdom was of very little use for him. He knew that he had made many mistakes in his life but the worst was to have met the angel. He regretted everything the angel had granted him. Suddenly, the angel appeared and told him that it took him 70 years to realise that the one thing in life that was inevitable was death. Dust we are and dust is what we return to. Love, wealth, fame and wisdom may seem like a rosy life but in the end we will all be washed away by the same hand that washes away beggars. We will be subject to the same judgement as political and war criminals. We will be judged the same as Adolf hitler and by the same person who judged him- God. Being rich or famous has no worth and wisdom just opens the curtains to truth. Love is a very pointless feeling for the person you love, in this generation, will most probably leave you for someone better or richer. Hearing this, the old man felt ill and dropped to his knees and begged the angel for the last and final wish: death.

teen culture

Teen culture has evolved massively over the past few decades. Teenagers no longer hang around rollerskating and eating popsicles like was the case in the 1970s. Today, teenagers spend their time listening to hip hop music and electronic dance music. Artists like Future, G-Eazy, Lil Uzi Vert, The Chainsmokers, Major Lazer, etc. are brand new teen role models in 2017. Gone are the days when teenagers picked up a book to read. Instead, nowadays we wile away time playing Call Of Duty, Battlefield, FIFA, Grand Theft Auto, amongst several others. Bethesda, Ubisoft, Activision, John Green and Veronica Roth have replaced John Grisham, Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, and others famed and classical authors. Today, teenage girls love reading about sad love stories with no cultural value and boys don't really read anything. 

Socialising has become the most important thing in a youth's life and everything is a fight for popularity. Being unpopular or unknown is not accepted. Everybody is expected to have the latest gadgets and fashion senses. Everybody's private information is publicly revealed on social media sites. Our minds are relentlessly controlled by corporate media like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. We are enslaved by society and peer pressure is our largest enemy. While everybody's mind only revolves around socialising with friends and attending parties, other important aspects of teenage life are being suppressed such as finding out who you are, reading, studying, planning your life and exploring the world around you. Society today is slowly building a generation of average working people who may never get out of the rat race. On a macro level, productivity will be low and debts high. Leniency in grading test scores has increased over the years making undeserving kids achieve new heights.

Teenagers have a mind of their own. Nobody can stop them and those who try to are insulted and condemned. Internet culture has also imposed several problems on teenagers. Brain melting jokes and memes are replacing science and math is being considered a subordinate to YouTube.

Art as taken a massive blow because it has been replaced by R&B. 

When individuals like Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Kylie Jenner, and Drake lead the world today, we face a cultural decline.  People who spit on fans, promise to stand for presidential elections when they are 33 million dollars in debt and make make up which ruins the skin are bound to lead the world to hell for they are being rewarded for their fame. Anybody who speaks out for the ruin of culture today is jeered and shunned and told that 'everything will be fine'. But how will everything be fine when the future president of the free world might be an insolvent rapper and the most famous teen in the world is known for lip syncing all his concerts and being a jerk to all his fans and friends.

My only prayer is that we spend some time everyday to do things that actually matter instead of wasting time to get a relationship or a couple hundred Instagram followers. We are the next leaders of the world and we surely can't blame selfies for our ruin.