Growing up my mom always told me that I was a typical American child. I was privileged and I never understood how great I had it. My mom grew up in Haiti, so her speech often consisted of stories of walking up the mountain just to get a drink, or having to gather firewood just to make a meal.

In America, we have our filtrated refrigerators to give us instant cold water and the option to have food ready to eat in minutes.

Teens are always viewed as procrastinating, self-centered people who have no real sense of responsibility. That is really offensive, because it isn’t true. The few teens who are like that ruin it for the most of us who are just figuring things out in life. We may not have it all together, but we are learning.

Most teens procrastinate because they have all of the time the world. Life for us isn’t too serious now, we are just going with the motions. We stay up late and wake up early. We may procrastinate, but things get done.

In this portion of our lives, we are just starting to understand how big the world really is and what our place is in it. That, in itself, is a huge responsibility.

In other countries, some people have no choice but to grow up fast. For example, by the time my dad was 15, he had to drop out of school in order to take care of himself. We are who we are because we have the opportunity to be.