From the microscope to the panoramic lens

Here is a riddle for all of you. What is loud-mouthed, claims to know everything (including the location of the break in the space-time continuum) and is socially awkward? Need a clue… Everyone has been one of these? Yes, I am talking about the adolescent. Some of you may be reading this thinking, “I was not a loud-mouthed, know it all, socially awkward, adolescent… I was the perfect, well behaved, humble, socially eloquent, young adult.” Well, if that is what you think, you are either lying or seriously delusional! Trust me, and if you don’t, ask your parents! I try not to remember much about my adolescence. It’s tucked carefully away in a box with many locks. It’s interesting though, my memories of that time, particularly middle school, are very different than my parents memories of when I was that age. For example, I remember middle school being HORRIBLE! I hated myself and everyone else, I had no friends, and no purpose in life. I was awkward, I was tall, skinny, and had ears about 3 times the size of my head. When I was home a few weeks ago, my mom and I were talking and somehow middle-school came up. I made some comment about it being the most horrible time in my life and my mom said, “what are you talking about Kate?” So I explained the cruel and unusual punishment that was…..middle-school. My mom chuckled and said, you really liked your teachers and you were in a writing club you really liked; she continued to describe a life that I am pretty sure I was not present for! Was I abducted by aliens?? Did I indeed find the break in the space-time continuum and occupy some parallel universe for the whole of middle school???? Well, I now have the privilege of working with middle-schoolers, and I feel as though I can now explain the holes in my memory. I affectionately call adolescence the “microscope” phase of life. Let’s pause for a moment and think about what purpose the microscope serves. It serves to focus on something small… to make it larger so we can see it in detail. This is what happens in middle-school. We view our world as if we are looking through a microscope. We focus in on something and it becomes huge and it’s all we see. I shall give an example. A middle-schooler is walking down the hallway at school and “Jenny” doesn’t say hi to her, the following is the inner-monologue that would transpire: “Oh my gosh, Jenny is mad at me… she hates me… no one likes me… I am worthless and will never amount to anything…my life is over”. For some reason, as a child goes through the time of adolescence, they are unable to see more than what is in their “microscope”. So, something that, to the outside world, would appear to be a blip on the radar, is now taking up the entire radar screen. I believe that this is why I only have bad memories of middle school… because I was looking at my life through a microscope. Now that I am a “mature” “grownup” (I use quotes because I cannot confirm that I am either mature or a grownup), I am in what I like to call “The panoramic lens” phase of life. I now have the ability to see more than what is right in front of me… I have a wider perspective. So, as you encounter loud-mouthed, socially awkward, know-it-alls, whose life will be ending for one reason or another, remember you were that person not so long ago…but feel free to thank the good Lord that you are not anymore!!