(February 21, 2008) — HIV: Human Immunodeficiency Virus—a sexually transmitted disease that attacks your immune system and turns you into a social outcast. Like most students at the tender age of ten, I was shown a horrifying video that knocked any minute ounce of innocence that I had retained from elementary school. What did I learn that day? I could impregnate girls, and on top of that, if I had sex, I would die of an STD. Now, at the age of 17, I know a few more things: first, an STD that kills you is the AIDS virus and that with today’s medical advances, you can live a semi-normal life. After I entered high school, my knowledge of the mysteries of sex grew by leaps and bounds. One day, while aimlessly surfing the Internet, I found a very interesting statistic: some 62 percent of teens are sexually active. I went out to see if teens I knew practiced safe sex and got tested regularly. Almost all of them said they always used condoms, but none of them had been tested and then recited why they didn’t need to be tested. Some said, “It was my partner’s first time” or that they “really trusted that special someone.” Now let’s analyze high school relationships: first, they don’t last long and, second, they are basically training exercises for future relationships. I have, myself, been tested five times, mostly because I am paranoid, but the fact that some teens might go around spreading STD as serious as HIV is ridiculous. Any responsible young adult should, with having sex, realize that he or she should not only look out for themselves, but also for those that they “care” about. In my mind, there are two ways that teens can stop the spread of HIV and STDs: They could just not have sex or they could get tested regularly and use condoms. Now let’s dish the dirt, ABSTINENCE—it’s not a bad thing. In fact, if I could regain my virginity I probably would. The first time you have sex really sucks—not only is it painfully awkward but also most of the time you leave unhappy. There should be more people who wait until marriage…. or at least college. High schools might have gotten something right; abstinence is the way that students should follow. High school shouldn’t pass in a wave of math, English, drugs and sex; it should be a happy time filled with butterflies, rainbows, unicorns and Mr. De Vore. Okay, so it won’t be like that, but it should come as close to that as possible. With only a few more months left of school and college rearing its ugly face closer, I find myself looking over the last four years thinking about how much time I have wasted on unimportant nonsense that hasn’t improved my life one bit. Then I think about those of my classmates who never seem to want to get out of their house and I wonder if I made the right choice. Should teenagers live the way adults expect us to, or should we make our own mistakes? Only problem is some mistakes are significantly worse than others. How are hormone-driven, emotionally unstable, immature young adults supposed to find a balance between a fulfilling high school experience and a high school experience that fulfills everyone’s expectations? For the freshmen, sophomores and juniors, they don’t live just to accomplish someone else’s idea of what you should do and at the same time do enough that you make yourself proud. As for the seniors…El Tough-O.