Opinion

Sex lessons from a love letter

Jim McCormick
Opinion Columnist

I made my usual trek to Missouri City on Friday to get my laundry done -- not because I haven't the first clue how to do laundry, but instead because I am too cheap to do my laundry here. 

During my visit home, I was given a letter and instructed to read it. It was written to a female member of my family by her boyfriend. 

I opened the folded-over paper to read: "To the love of my life." At this point, I got a little worried about where this letter was going, as the author was only 16, and I doubt he has truly found the love of his life. After all, I'm older than he is and I haven't ever loved another person in that way. The odds of him understanding the full implications of that phrase at that age are astronomically low.

As I read on, I found out a bit about the goings-on in his family. His father was out of town on a business trip, his mother's vehicle was no longer among the living and that he knew someone who is a porn-addicted jerk. 

The part about the porn addict didn't surprise me, as that person did leave his girlfriend for her best friend back in my sophomore year of high school. The whole situation smacked of something from <I>Jerry Springer<P>. However, the author of the letter didn't seem to share that personis philosophy on love and sex.

The last two pages were probably the most interesting to read from the perspective of a student interested in social interaction. The author confessed he had never kissed a girl and that he found wanton public displays of affection sickening and disturbing. He expressed disgust at how casually his classmates treated sex and related activities. 

Now, I can tell you that half of the female population of my high school is pregnant at any given time. Although I am hesitant to talk about sex, I must say that frank discussion about sex is quite an improvement on our current way of laughing it off or stalling out of rosy-faced embarrassment. 

How many of those pregnancies at my high school would have happened if people, especially adults, talked openly and responsibly about sex, especially in the presence of children? 

I'm not advocating some kind of sexual education program in the school system, but instead a more proactive, community-wide approach to dealing with sexual and reproductive issues. 

Let's face it. Our society has pretended for a long time that our children have no clue what sex is, despite the fact that the media is saturated with it. Since teenagers are often unable to get straight answers from responsible adults because those adults are too embarrassed to talk about sex, they turn to the media and their peers. 

The media and uninformed teenagers are the last places youth should seek information about something this important. Instead, parents, community leaders, the medical community and other responsible adults should not only keep an open door for the youth, but also should occasionally bring up the topic themselves, instead of allowing less responsible sources to inform children first. 

As for me, I would prefer to know the emotions behind a romantic relationship rather than experience the physical side of it.

Now, I'm off to see about some aspirin for the headache the sticking "t" key on this keyboard is giving me, as it is throwing off my rhythm.

McCormick, a freshman biology major, can be reached at rantman_2000@sbcglobal.net.