‘The teenage years are the best years of one’s life.’ Would you agree with this view?

In one point of view, whether the teenage years are the best years in one's life is relative and people would have different opinions based on their experiences in the period of time. However on hindsight, as it is the period of time that lets us experience more and opens our eyes to the outside world. To some, negative experiences such as loss of loved ones, constant betrayal by friends or years of solitude, may lead to them having the worst, most miserable years of their lives. For others, friends may flock and form a band of friendship around us, as if an invisible shield that protects us from the evils of the world. Nonetheless, I feel that teenage years are the best years of our lives.

Just as the saying goes, “silver lining on the dark clouds”, some of us may face heartbreaking events like separation of friends or loss of family members, but it is also in these years that we can grow up in terms of our mental fortitude. Coming together and parting with one another is part and parcel of life. Separations may make us miserable and depressed, but it is through these ups-and-downs that our true grit is put through the test and honed. Besides, it is through these experiences that help us mature in our thinking and read things or situations in depth and be aware of the situations. In this way we would know what to do in order to reply in an appropriate manner. It is also only in these difficult times can we see the identities of our true friends.

In these sense, crowded by friends, surrounded by friendship, experienced enlightenment, helping us grow and mature into good and critical thinking individuals. Under such circumstances, none of us should be growing up in solitude, growing up in depression as long as one does not shut himself out from the world and takes the world in an optimistic light.