Ode to the Negativity of Spring

Painful. Spring is painful. 

Spring is three long months of allergies and sinus pressure with bipolar weather patterns and grueling finals. It is the final obstacle in the way of summer vacation, and the time of making difficult decisions about the all too quickly approaching future. 

The start of the season also starts the cycle of medication to prevent the constant headaches, stuffy noses, and sore throats that plague most miserable victims of poor immune systems. Rain brings sinus infections, and sun brings blooms that are only out to cause harm, an endless cycle of frustration.

With spring comes responsibility. All of the hours spent studying throughout a depressing autumn and a bitter winter begin to mean something as spring arrives with the expectation to combine all the useful knowledge gained and put it to use. Exams and projects pile up at an alarming rate until there isn't time to breathe or possibly enjoy the spread of colors after the drabness of the start of the year.

If it's not school work then it is the demands of the holiday season, with Lent and Easter and the demands of grandparents who feel that it is of the utmost importance to make a good impression. While the dinners and gatherings of church members are entertaining every once and awhile, growing up with restrictions on what to eat on specific days is annoying for any adolescent.

Spring brings color and new life, but it also causes stress, pain, and irritation. Though it marks the end of subzero temperatures and ice storms, it also brings in a fresh round of stress that lasts until the schools finally relent at the start of summer. March, April, and May, while supposedly beautiful, all merely offer some sort of pain that only makes the last months of school harder. Until the twenty first of June, when it is officially the warmest of the seasons and the flowers have all bloomed to their full potential, will all the trials of spring relent and offer peace after months of difficulty.

The Expectation of Risk

Risk taking has always come with that exciting thrill that keeps the idea of danger entertaining in the eyes of those willing (or perhaps foolish) enough to partake. Whether it is from peer pressure or the need to prove one's worth, risk taking has quickly become an expectation for young adults, particularly males, adding to the ever growing lists of examples that prove how society is drowning in foolish arrogance.

In today's world, risks integrate themselves into all aspects of growing up. Being prone to taking a risk shows one's strength, courage, and worth to their peers, and is often what determines whether or not one is "cool" or in the selective circle of those considered better. Boys who recklessly push and kick at each other at recess, girls who delve into the volatile world of gossip by sharing secrets without thought of consequence, all in an attempt to make a mark, secure a position, or ensure that they will not be left behind in the savage world of grade school hierarchy.

Particularly in males, there is the mandatory need to assert one's dominance, usually through acts of violence or fantastic stunts that often involve some extreme physical motion that could very easily cause harm. It is an expectation in this society to be the best of the best, and to always push down those who dare to challenge the sacred order. Males have always had this desire to use risks to prove their worth and win the respect of their peers to show their betterment. Scuffles between young boys, or dangerous joyrides in cars full of drunk college students both have the common theme of using potentially threatening (in some way or form) situations to scare off any potential threats to the so called "natural order" of what most boys consider to be a friend group. The more risk one takes, the higher in the pack they are, a status which, at least to the stereotypical man, is more important than stopping to think of what could potentially happen if something were to go awry.

This inclination to take a thoughtless risk is not seen as frequently in women. While females tend to take risks in a more social form, by telling secrets, or following (or deviating from) a trend, there is not the overwhelming necessity to do something physically reckless to take control of a group. Generally, a female would rather form her own complex order system that is unchanging, determined solely by the basic traits or abilities of her fellow girls. There is not a frequent change in dominance in a female pack, and if there does happen to be one, it tends to be a large, dramatic spectacle that is talked about for days on end until the dirt settles for the next few months. The expectation to prove one's physical worth does not exist in the land of the female, showing yet another aspect of gender expectations in society.

These expectations are one of the sole reasons for heightened amounts of risk taking, especially in younger adults. It is imperative to assert a specific rank or niche in society, and what better way to accomplish this than by proving that you can drink one of your mates under the table? With the amount of competition in this world, the flashiest and most dangerous acts that are successfully pulled off gain the most attention and prestige. Without risk, there would be no surefire way to show how one person is better than another. Therefore, the idea of risk taking has settled comfortably in the mainstream social code until it is simply part of life, forever increasing the chances for stupid or more reckless acts all in the name of superiority.