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Swagga T
WHAT a year it was and Happy 2015 !!!
For us in teenville, the year was without doubt laden with a lot of thrills, tears and spills, all of which shall remain etched on the memories of many. As the curtain came down two days ago, you should ask and answer yourself sincerely about which of the above categories you belonged to.

You should take a long, hard look at yourself in the mirror and see if what you see is really your true self or that ugly monster who wanted to take beautiful Cinderella’s place?

Beautiful not in the aesthetic sense of the word, but beauty that emanates from your behaviour.

If you experienced a lot of thrills, were they on the negative or positive side of life?

There is a misconception among many of you that if you spend a good part of your time indulging in things like drugs, alcohol and teen-sex, among other vices, then you have enjoyed life and experienced a thrill.

A documentary that recently appeared on Al Jazeera showed a development that has occurred in the United States where students who are found on the wrong side of the law are sent to prison to reform.

It was screened at the time of writing this article and although we don’t subscribe to this system, as it subjects teenagers to prison-life at an early stage in life, what it however served to do was to send the clear message that misbehaviour is a great folly that asks only for punishment.

Some critics say the idea of establishing a juvenile facility only serves to further harden the teens, rather than reforming them. CLS rightly agrees, 100 percent.

We are glad that this form of punishment is not familiar with our Zimbabwean set-up, but the reason why we used this analogue is to hammer home the message that crime does not pay, and the law can catch up with you eventually.

Do you know that doing drugs like mbanje (marijuana) is a serious crime?

CLS advice to you is to steer clear of all these bad habits and start your New Year on a clean sheet. If you are one of those indulging in all this, then wipe the slate clean and cultivate a positive attitude.

As our elders say in Shona, “chera kakomba usvipire mate” (dig a small hole and spit and bury your bad behaviour).”

Now is the time to take stock of your life and make the decision to slough off the bad-boy or bad-girl character and adopt a new look.

Susan Makore (14) of Sunningdale, said she was inspired to do more in 2015 after reading the story of Rebecca Oberholzer, who at the age of seven became Zimbabwe’s youngest sportswoman.

“That young girl (Rebecca) jolted my senses and proved to the world that we as kids have what it takes to rule the world only if we develop the right and positive mind-frame and attitude.

“If at seven she could do it, how about other teenagers? So my challenge to my fellow teens is that we should now be more serious in our approach towards life because we still have a lot of years ahead of us and it’s never too late. Let’s utilise the time that we have and make the most of our lives,” she said.

Apart from Rebecca Oberholzer’s feat, before her was the Cottco Rugby Festival that went down in the history of Zim schools in the way that it was well-organised and proved to be the premier rugby festival for schools in the country.

Edwin Jack of Southerton – a rugby fanatic – commended the festival and said he hoped 2015 would have more of similar festivals for teens in store.

“It (the rugby festival) helped teens to be more focused on productive things in life and as a sports lover, I have now set my sights to excel in my sporting career.

“As teens, we should embrace sport as it keeps our minds active and we should do away with negative things. This is my hope for the 2015,” he said.

He also urged the Ministry of Sport, Arts and Culture to bear teenagers in mind by coming up with programmes aimed at catching them young.

It is also hoped that with the coming of the New Year, new thorough processes will also be experienced among teenagers.

This mainly applies to those who think that making sex tapes, bully others and engage in sex to subsidise their education is the way to go.

We need a clean teenville this year.