Everybody apparently.

I was on the bus on my own today. The journey was quite a long one so I had my i-pod in and was listening to some mellow music,you know,just a bit of indie.

I sat on the bus for around forty minutes and people came on and got off, and gradually the seats began to fill up.

Now don't get me wrong,I wouldn't be my first choice to sit next to on a bus either,I mean what with the smile and the friendliness,but the bus filled up and I watched people as they got on and scanned the lower deck for spare places to park themselves. Almost every time, and I'm not exaggerating, when they caught a glimpse of me their eyes would almost scream at me that they disapproved of my actual being there. Like I was some stain that should be removed. Nobody sat next to me,not that I really mind about that - I like having my own seat,but the fact that a couple of people actually chose to stand rather than sit next to someone my age upset me a little.

I don't know if its the signature white i-pod speakers that put them off. I think they might worry that I have blaring heavy metal or ear damaging dance music coming out.

I don't know if it's my general appearance, or if I give off a smell

But I do think that it's my age.

Nobody likes teenagers anymore.We've been stereotyped as hoodie-wearing, cigarette smoking, binge-drinking,school-skiving,knife-carrying, social misfits who form gangs and are ignorant and have nothing good to offer society.

You can't open a paper without hearing about how good-for-nothing we are. Any report you read about young people shoves them into stereotyped groups set up by our narrow minded and dare I say it,old fashioned,society. The media does not treat young people like people but instead sets them up as foreign creatures who are to be feared.

Perhaps if the media refrained from making us targets of hatred and using the image they have created of us to instill fear in everyone, people would come to realise that there are actually useful young members of society. Young people who do read the papers, who are literate and can hold a decent conversation,who do care about the world and its inhabitants,who do have valuable opinions and who are genuinely more than what they appear to and are commonly thought to be.

I'm not trying to excuse the behaviour of some teenagers today,but I sincerely wish society would waken up notice the rest of us.

Until Next Time