You know how when you walk throw the halls, you say hi to people you talk to. But there are so many that I pass in the hallway. I tend to forget about some people unless I see them on a daily basis. Well there was this girl that was in my horticulture class in ninth grade. I though she was a nice girl. Well I used to talk to her everyday. Once the semester changed we did not see each other anymore. We grew apart just like everyone does.

So walking throw the hallway last week, I thought of how I never see her anymore. I began to wonder were she was. Was it just because our paths never crossed? Had she moved away? It was all I could think about the rest of the day. The first thing I did when i got home that afternoon was sign into Facebook and see how she was doing. I saw that people were telling her congratulations but I could not figure out why... I scrolled down... and.... I saw were she had pasted pictures of her and her brand new baby. I was in utter disbelief. No! not her I thought. She was a nice girl with a bright future. I was going to post something to her wall but I could not think of what to say. I was not going to tell her "congratulations." Teenage pregnancy is not something to be congratulated for. Then I thought okay I will just send her a message and then everyone will not see what I put. I clicked the compose new button and the screen popped up. I sat there starring at it for about five minutes. I could not think of anything to say to her.

We no longer have the relationship to where I could talk to her-- tell her she should stay in school, contact someone for help, or anything along those lines. The only thing I could think of that would have been appropriate to say would have been something along the lines of congrats. But I was not about to congratulate her.... So I left well enough alone and went on my marry way.

This is a prime example of how adults think when it comes to dealing with young people and sexual health. They want to turn their head and pretend it is not happening. They don't want to talk to kids about this very natural part of life and how to handle their sexual feelings because this would be "awkward." Okay, I will give some adults some credit.... some do give their child "the talk," but is A TALK all that is needed. NO! In math class when the teacher teaches a new type of math problem, they do not just show one example and expect the students to know how to do it! It takes practice. Just like talking to young people. It takes time for a young person to build up the self esteem needed to go to their parent with a question about sex. If the parent and child have not opening made it comfortable, then the child is going to think it is not right for them to ask.

Parents: Talk to your children!
Young people: Listen to what they have to say and ask questions!

For a lot of teens the first time they go to talk to their parents is to tell them they are pregnant or have gotten someone pregnant. Don't be another number that can be counted in the statistics for teen pregnancy!!!