I’ve read different statistics, so I don’t really know how accurate this is. I have also read:
20% of adolescents have admitted to considering suicide.
1,952 adolescents committed suicide in 2021, which was 18.6% of deaths for the 15-19 age category.
28% have received mental health treatment with boys being less likely to seek help.
1 in 7 adolescents (10-19 years old) experiences a mental disorder.
Anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and ADHD are the most common mental health disorders in adolescents.
I can keep spewing stats out here, but I wanted to say something else that has been on my mind for a while. It’s about how people respond to teenagers having emotional and mental health issues. We’d like to think it’s always taken seriously, but I’ve been seeing how that’s not the case. It’s rather disheartening.
You see, people have this idea that puberty makes teenagers highly unstable, but in a way that doesn’t gain any concern. These issues are just phases or the teen is merely being overly dramatic for attention. Adults will ignore warning signs until harm is done by or to the teen. For example, depression and anxiety flags can be shrugged of as shyness or being overreactive to any situation. Nothing is done until the student attempts suicide, attacks someone, or begins cutting. That’s when many adults take action, but it’s really late in the game.
Mental health disorders are dangerous and many have a downward spiral effect. Similar to cancer, it’s best to catch it early and get the teenagers help. This requires taking them seriously and being available to talk without pushing too hard. It means we have to stop telling boys that they shouldn’t cry, ignore their feelings, or that they are only important if someone finds them useful. Things like this is why boys are more susceptible to suicide than girls because they meet a lot of resistance towards showing their emotions. Again, it results in things brewing until they explode.
It’s disheartening to see how people and even society as a whole ignore these problems unless a news-worthy event occurs. We hear about it for a bit after school shootings and other horrific events, but then it fades back into the ether. People go back to rolling their eyes at teenagers stressing over dating, tests, college, feelings, and sports. Many think these things are trivial because they’ve already gone through that stage of life, so they forget how stressful teen years can be. They need a tragedy to jog their memories even a little bit, but things are too late by then. If a struggling teenager gets help after the final hour, they’ll become an adult who has to hold down a job or college program while facing a mental disorder with minimal help. At least in the USA, insurance companies don’t always cover mental health, so teen years are probably the best to tackle these things since you have school resources.
Anyway, this is mostly a messy rant in response to seeing so many people shrug off the mental struggles of teenagers. They’re human just like adults, so why shouldn’t their problems get the same level of seriousness?
Yeah . . . I didn’t have any time to touch Darwin & the Beast Collector.
The week after winter break is always crazy with students and teachers getting back into the swing of things. Doesn’t help that I deal with things from the teacher and parent side of things. Waking up at 5:30 am was tough for me, but even rougher for the teenager who wasn’t ready for it. So, my mornings were groggy and busy, which set the stage for a wild day. I made it to the weekend though.
Another factor was that this was the end of the Pokemon Go winter season. Each season is about 3 months and ends with a big event. This is the first year I’m participating the winter finale, which as been going on all week. A special event happened every weeknight from 6-7, so I was in the park with everyone catching and talking. This meant late dinners and quickly going to bed after 30 minutes of silence. On the days I didn’t have my son, I had to rush through various errands and chores. Haven’t been sleeping well for a few nights too, so it wasn’t smooth sailing.
This weekend is going to be busy too. Special Pokemon are going to be around with several requiring you team up with at least 10 other people. The event goes from 10 am to 6 pm both days, so I might get some editing in at night. For today, I’m taking a backpack full of sandwiches, water, and a thermos of hot chocolate. My hope is to get all of the tasks, special catches, and other key moments done before tomorrow. The temperature is going to drop into the teens since Canada won’t keep its arctic wind to itself for one more day. I don’t want to be marching around the park in that weather, but the mall won’t have enough players for me to easily get the tough ones.
Honestly, I’ve been feeling rather lost and out of sorts for a while too. So, editing takes longer than it used to. Don’t know if it’s because of the story or me. I like what I’m reading and how things are going, which is weird. Maybe my inner criticisms are making me drift away for a bit until I sort them out. For example, I keep thinking I’m not making it clear that a character is always drinking the same thing and nobody else is allowed to touch it. They always have a drink with them and I know a later chapter has a bartender explaining that nobody else can have that brew. Is this enough to get the point across and garner some suspicion?
Next week may give me some editing time since I won’t have a lot to do in the evenings other than some appointments. I have my son next weekend, so we’ll be doing some Pokemon and relaxing. We have a lot to talk about too. With the weather being freaking cold again, I doubt we’ll be outside a lot. Then again, we can always hit up the mall and walk around while watching a movie home in-between. Really don’t know if I should plan a lot since he has a lot going on this week too. He could hit the weekend being so tired that he wants to sleep in and lounge around the house. I mean, he’s watching ‘Schindler’s List’ this week, which is a tradition in my old high school. I remember feeling drained after seeing it and I assume he’ll have a lot of questions too.
You know, it might be best that I take a day of fresh air and community. I think I’m at a threshold or some kind of limit considering the song above made me start crying for no reason. A lot of personal stuff did happen and I haven’t been sorting through things as well as I should. Well, I’m trying, but I’m really only saving it for therapy sessions instead of working on things every day. Probably part of the reason why I’m having trouble getting my emotions on track for writing and editing. Hard to write Darwin being a happy, positive ball of mayhem when I’m questioning why life sucks. Really should watch more comedies than science-fiction dramas . . . Think I should pause ‘Warehouse 13’ and jump to ‘Brooklyn 99’.
Goals of the week:
Catch Pokemon without freezing.
Try to edit one chapter of Darwin & the Beast Collector
Help son with homework and school.
Make sure to get enough sleep.
Try to exercise because freezing winter has caused horrible weight gain.
Work on May blog posts.
Watch comedies and avoid the news.
Try to improve mood in spite of depressing arctic winds returning.
I’m sure this is more of an anime thing and people who aren’t into the genre won’t really get or like this character type. It’s definitely done for comedy, but I always sense there’s an odd level of respect between those involved. I don’t know what to call them, especially since it’s usually not their entire personality. It’s just that they tend to be the only character who can smack, lecture, and talk back to a god that is known for having a short temper.
The example on my mind is Bulma Briefs from Dragon Ball. The blue-haired woman above who has been in the series since the first episode. She isn’t a fighter, but a scientific genius with enough money to buy out Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark. Bulma has stood up to other villains and tamed one of the earliest ones of DBZ to the point where they’re married and he’d fight a Destroyer God for hitting her. That brings us to Beerus the Destroyer God who is shown to blow up planets simply because he didn’t like the food they served him. His unbeatable, but thankfully fairly lazy and easily placated with food like instant ramen. Still, everyone is afraid of him . . . Except Bulma at most points who will even smack him upside the head. She doesn’t get killed for this.
Now, I think this is an interesting character type because it’s done with one that isn’t a fighter. Those types are still scared of the god and on their best behavior. This one is treated with odd respect and given more leeway than any other character. Yes, it’s for comedy, but I think it does show a few things:
It shows that the god is able to respect mortals, which makes them relatable to the audience. Beerus doesn’t kill Bulma for her antics and will even listen to her under threat of not being given new foods. You do need a god that has a vice, which is taken advantage of. This adds to the relatability.
The non-combat character can still contribute to storylines. These characters always get shunted to the background and beyond when action begins. By having them be the only ones who can confidently communicate with this god, they can ask for help or at least get information for victory. They become a stronger support character.
The braver characters get to be taken down a few pegs and show that there are things that even they are scared of. This gets enhanced by the non-fighting character not being afraid of the god.
Now, this is something that has to be developed. The mortal can’t walk over and smack the god upside the head in their first meeting. They should and will start off either scared or oblivious to the danger of the god. In contrast, the god should be pompous, confident, or not pay any attention to this mortal. Events should occur that causes them to have respect for each other on some level. It can be anything depending on the story, so I won’t go into specifics. The point is that you need to properly nurture this connection and have it make sense within context.
You also need to make sure it doesn’t go too far. Having this mortal pummel the god all the time changes the dynamic to make the god too weak. There isn’t a threat to the mortal if you do it too much or too little, so you need to think about how the actions are affecting the deity. So, this really becomes a one-sided dynamic, which I think makes it easier to handle.
I know this character type or relationship is fairly niche. So, what would other people think of someone like this?
I’m going to admit that I don’t know many fairy tales beyond the ones American children get while growing up. Those tend to be Disney-associated. So, this is a topic I’m curious about, but have no knowledge on. I did look to see if all cultures had fairy tales and it seems that way. Judaism has things like ‘The Palace of Eagles’ and ‘The Fairy Frog’, which I had never heard of. Only ones I could think of are Bible stories and ‘The Golem’. Funny thing is that some of the Jewish fairy tales didn’t originate within their homeland, but simply in their cultural centers. For example, a story called ‘A Golden Tree’ is a Jewish tale that came out of India. So . . .
What do you think constitutes a fairy tale regardless of culture?
Do you know of any non-mainstream fairy tales from other cultures?
Here’s a small excerpt from Warlord of the Forgotten Age, which is the finale of Legends of Windemere. Been a long time since I finished that series. Anyway, this is a small piece where the heroes run into a little mystery. One that gave them a bit of trouble that you have to read to believe.
Legends of Windemere 