Every person in their life hits that age – the one where they realize the world is a much bigger place than the bubble they once thought they knew. That age for some of the students here at Chelsea was around eighth grade, after the pandemic hit. Before then was a time of blissful ignorance, which most adored when talking about early youth.
“I just feel like when I was younger, I guess I was more joyful. And I do miss being less worried about the world’s conflicts,” senior Hunter Hartin said. “Growing up has made me realize the conflicts that are going on in the world right now, and it's made me have more of a global view, have a deeper picture of what is happening in the world, and that not everything could be as good as it seems.”
Many do wish they could return to that time and stop living through major historical events, but they can't. Time marches forward at a rate that we can not control. So many students cope by trying to stay informed on subjects and problems that are important to them. Students like senior Abby Kotlarek have started to find ways to stay informed to offset the pressure of time.
“I feel like I hear about a lot of news,” Kotlarek said. “Sometimes my mom will send me articles, and I'll read them. I think it's working pretty effectively, but I think I could probably go on more news sites, like the New York Times, and get more informed on the specifics of issues that I hear about.”
The more information a person has, the more confident they are about their political decisions. Again, people mainly chose to stay informed about the topics they find important–usually what keeps them up at night.
“All the conflicts, because yes, they're far away,” Hartin said. “But it's also like, I think of all the people who are being affected and the innocent people who are being threatened, and it's just it keeps me up at night thinking that that could have been me. It's just regionally, like where you're born. It just gives me a sense of privilege to not be in a war-devastated area where people may be less fortunate than us.”
The privilege hunter is talking about isn't necessarily a bad thing for some. So long as you're not looking down on those less fortunate than us, Lady Luck is cold. Other students are more concerned about local things like their families. Which does make a lot of sense, seeing as the cost of living keeps going up with what seems like no shot of going down.
“Gas has clearly gone up. I spent $25 on 5 gallons–That hurt me,” senior Christian Gough said. “I also see a high increase in housing and milk–I love milk. It's expensive now, and less milk just kind of sucks. Increase in video games, It went from casual $60 to now $100, which is absolutely not fun.”
With prices at what seems like an all-time high and a war in the Middle East again, many are criticizing the government even more than before. Most students have criticized the executive branch of the United States government for having either too much power or not enough care. Some think it's mostly because of the current administration, who seem to be more interested in vanity than taking care of things.
“I think that in general, the president typically does have more power in some cases,” Kotlarek said. “I also think that currently, the President is taking more liberties than others have in the past with presidential power. And I think it sometimes gets a little unbalanced, especially right now. I feel like power is just a little skewed.”
