The Problems You’re Supposed to Have

Ever thought about what problems you’re “supposed” to have…or not as a teenager? In a recent HuffPost piece, college freshman Alexis Jane Torre lays out a number of problems teens are “supposed to have,” including:

• Your crush of two years doesn’t know your name

• Your parents don’t understand you

• Your best friend doesn’t get back to you

In other words, don’t stress the “to-be-expected.” Sound advice. But maybe you’ve heard this great Yiddish saying: If you and all your neighbors lay all of your problems on your respective front lawns, you’d look them all over, and end up taking back your own.

With our lives becoming increasingly more interconnected via search engines, Skype and social media, suddenly our neighbors are not just the ones three houses down; they’re in Egypt, Mexico and India. Some of the problems out on the front lawns of these teens might include:

• Lack of basic plumbing or clean water

• Limited access to education and resources

• Environmental threats

Would you take back your own problems now, even if they’re heavier than a crush not knowing your name? Are these just the problems our neighbors are “supposed” to have? Thousands of teens around the world think not and taken action already, proving their generation is capable of making significant change in the world. And they’ve had the time of their lives in the process.