An Emo getting a bit Emo?
Say it ain't so.
You came here, of your own will, and asked people for their opinions on this topic.
I didn't go looking for you and just randomly start picking on you about your social group.
You came here, to us, by your own free will, and asked people for their opinions.
You are now getting opinions.
It is unreasonable to ask complete strangers for their opinions, and then when some of their opinions don't like up with your own, start throwing attitude like THEY did something wrong. THEY are merely doing exactly what YOU ASKED FOR.
Don't ask us for a thing, and then get upset when we give you the thing.
Emo Example?
Alright, let's just deal with the elephant in the room... this whole conversation may, in itself, be a fair example of the "stereotypical" emo mentality.
Emos are stereotypically known to be self-absorbed, overly sensitive, and unable to handle criticism.
Problems with criticism... that's starting to ring a bell.
Where did I see that recently... hmmm.
Look, I see no problem with liking a particular fashion style, or musical taste, or art, or poetry, or whatever relatively benign things emos may be into.
That's fine.
It's all fine.
But if you want to join a group so you can be surrounded by people who are overly emotional, lack self control, and spend all their time engaged in the purely self-centered activity of discussing how "mean the rest of the world is"... that seems like an unwise choice.
That seems counter productive and unbiblical.
* The bible actually tells us NOT to get overly emotional about every little thing, but rather to exercise self control.
* The bible also tells us to choose our friends wisely, and that we become like the people we hang around.
There are genuine REASONS for us to be concerned about you, and about your social group.
If your emo friends are just boring suburban kids with too much eyeliner... that's fine.
But if they're unstable (which is where the emo culture has its roots) then we have reason to be concerned.
Not all bad news
Alright, now let's look at the positive side of things.
Maybe your emo group isn't really very "emo", and they're all perfectly stable emotionally.
That's great.
Or maybe I'm just wrong about everything.
That's even better.
But on the other hand, you wouldn't be here for just no reason... if you didn't have concerns, you wouldn't be here.
That means you're concerned, and you're really giving your life some serious introspective thought.
And THAT means you've got some real depth, and you have some really great qualities.
That's fantastic.
And ya know, if people are all here discussing this stuff with you, it means a lot of people are interested in your well being, and genuinely want you to be well and do well... that can't be all bad either.
Final Thoughts:
1. I think it's fantastic that you're going on a mission trip. I mean that sincerely. You have all my support and respect for that.
2. I don't dislike you, and I don't think ill of you just because you might just possibly be doing some "dumb teenager things"... we all did dumb teenager things.
3. If the worst thing you're doing is hanging out with some overly emotional and self-absorbed teens... then that's probably a lot better than most of us did in our teen years.
4. No one here dislikes you. No one here thinks you're stupid, or thinks you're a bad person. But it's still possible you're making some mistakes which the older crowd can see more clearly than you can. It is entirely possible that people who are older and wiser, are in fact, ACTUALLY OLDER AND WISER.
5. And we didn't get older and wiser by being perfect... we got older and wiser by making LOTS OF MISTAKES.
6. IF you are in fact making mistakes, then we'd like to see you avoid those mistakes. That's all.
That's the bottom line.
.
Say it ain't so.
You came here, of your own will, and asked people for their opinions on this topic.
I didn't go looking for you and just randomly start picking on you about your social group.
You came here, to us, by your own free will, and asked people for their opinions.
You are now getting opinions.
It is unreasonable to ask complete strangers for their opinions, and then when some of their opinions don't like up with your own, start throwing attitude like THEY did something wrong. THEY are merely doing exactly what YOU ASKED FOR.
Don't ask us for a thing, and then get upset when we give you the thing.
Emo Example?
Alright, let's just deal with the elephant in the room... this whole conversation may, in itself, be a fair example of the "stereotypical" emo mentality.
Emos are stereotypically known to be self-absorbed, overly sensitive, and unable to handle criticism.
Problems with criticism... that's starting to ring a bell.
Where did I see that recently... hmmm.
Look, I see no problem with liking a particular fashion style, or musical taste, or art, or poetry, or whatever relatively benign things emos may be into.
That's fine.
It's all fine.
But if you want to join a group so you can be surrounded by people who are overly emotional, lack self control, and spend all their time engaged in the purely self-centered activity of discussing how "mean the rest of the world is"... that seems like an unwise choice.
That seems counter productive and unbiblical.
* The bible actually tells us NOT to get overly emotional about every little thing, but rather to exercise self control.
* The bible also tells us to choose our friends wisely, and that we become like the people we hang around.
There are genuine REASONS for us to be concerned about you, and about your social group.
If your emo friends are just boring suburban kids with too much eyeliner... that's fine.
But if they're unstable (which is where the emo culture has its roots) then we have reason to be concerned.
Not all bad news
Alright, now let's look at the positive side of things.
Maybe your emo group isn't really very "emo", and they're all perfectly stable emotionally.
That's great.
Or maybe I'm just wrong about everything.
That's even better.
But on the other hand, you wouldn't be here for just no reason... if you didn't have concerns, you wouldn't be here.
That means you're concerned, and you're really giving your life some serious introspective thought.
And THAT means you've got some real depth, and you have some really great qualities.
That's fantastic.
And ya know, if people are all here discussing this stuff with you, it means a lot of people are interested in your well being, and genuinely want you to be well and do well... that can't be all bad either.
Final Thoughts:
1. I think it's fantastic that you're going on a mission trip. I mean that sincerely. You have all my support and respect for that.
2. I don't dislike you, and I don't think ill of you just because you might just possibly be doing some "dumb teenager things"... we all did dumb teenager things.
3. If the worst thing you're doing is hanging out with some overly emotional and self-absorbed teens... then that's probably a lot better than most of us did in our teen years.
4. No one here dislikes you. No one here thinks you're stupid, or thinks you're a bad person. But it's still possible you're making some mistakes which the older crowd can see more clearly than you can. It is entirely possible that people who are older and wiser, are in fact, ACTUALLY OLDER AND WISER.
5. And we didn't get older and wiser by being perfect... we got older and wiser by making LOTS OF MISTAKES.
6. IF you are in fact making mistakes, then we'd like to see you avoid those mistakes. That's all.
That's the bottom line.
.
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