American Man

 Walking down the street and passing a bunch of teenagers, I always like to eavesdrop on what they are talking about. Most of the times their topic is about "love", and it is inspiring to hear how they talk about the ones they like. They are so passionate about completely denying their feelings that sometimes it seems like they loathe the person. Although some might become really corageous and agree that they are in love, the way of showing that feeling is so different from how the adults do that it might not be reflected as very "skillful". They are full of adorable mistakes that we will never get to understand, because we only get older, not younger. Then soon, as they go to high school and get to realize that liking a person is nothing weird but actually very natural phenomenon, they secretely tell their best friends about their crush or girl/ boyfriends. That way, they grow up.

 Colin, 10 years old, is yet to be in such age of realizing and approving his feeling toward the others but still in the stage of developing his sense and notions about fondness. On the paragraph where he and Japeth talks about girls in their class, it is very interesting to see how they react to their feelings toward the ones they like. Their way of catching girls' attention is yet immature but seems to reflect the youth, when it is still okay for you to make mistakes and be clumsy. Acting mean not to show one's feelings does not seem to work anymore in my age group. As mentioned in the paragraph below, psychologists call their age as the prone age of acknowledging gender-linked norms. But it is not only gender related norms that they realize as they get older year after year, but also sense about future, money, values and so on that it almost feels like Colin and his friends are standing on the very border of transition. It can be positive, but as many of us know, it is not always so bright. Their most sensitive feelings, love, would start off to develop and others would follow, the bittersweet stage of growing up.