When teenagers are on the front page as well as the lead story on the television news, or what passes for television news, it’s not just teenagers around the country who pay attention. In this media-saturated world, instant fame and relentless coverage of sensational stupidity is near impossible to escape. Two stories in May deserve attention and for distinctly different reasons.
One is the continuing, revealing press coverage of the endless escapades of teenage celebrities like 20-year-old Lindsay Lohan who party and drink and drive and crash on Sunset Strip. The swarm of “journalists” who race to get that story contribute to the decline and fall of Western civilization or, at least, aren’t contributing anything positive and optimistic about what young people are doing to make our world more conscious and inspiring.
Which leads to the other story in May about the historic record-setting achievement of Long Beach teenager Samantha Larson. The 18-year-old mountain climber has reached the top of the seven highest peaks on each of the seven continents. In the month of May, she completed that record by being the youngest hiker ever to ascend to the top of Mount Everest and the youngest to climb all seven peaks.
While one is out of control, the other is conquering the improbable. Lindsay and her underage drinking pals are definitely signaling the direction that many teenagers will descend to, sadly. Meanwhile, Samantha is an inspiration to other teenagers who seek to make a healthy contribution to their generation and to our cultural, social and evolutionary success. Maybe Lindsay and her groupies will discover the mountains instead of the clubs and then television news can cover critical stories, instead of the shallow, scandalous and seamy.
Chuck Levin