Page 44 - Phonebox Magazine October 2008

HAVE YOUR SAY
Letters Dear Editor
I thought I would take Mr D Waller’s advice and write a reply to his letter. I’d like to firstly mention that I was very hurt and angry by his letter and it has been a couple of days since I felt like I could reply. I was going to write something very sarcastic back, because I thought it was an awful letter, however after having a ‘joint’ with my ‘Yoof crew’ and having a chat with my ‘POT! Dealer’ I have decided to try and be the better person about it, so I am sorry if I offend anyone in any manor.
What I’d like to mention firstly is a little something about me, I’m 17, learning to drive, and working part time at the Co-op. As well as also volunteering for the Children’s Society,
which was incorporated with the Olney Co-op as many people might have seen or purchased the calendar, which was made especially for the occasion. I love spending time with my friends and family and I am soon to become an auntie! This summer I spent a week, of my time, helping out at holiday bible club, run by Hilary Terry, not because I had to but because its fun and interesting, and is something I have been doing since I was 11 years old. I also enjoy photography and hope to one day pursue it as a career, because it is a passion and an interest.
Now if I am capable of doing all these things then surely other people in my age group are doing the same? Like the saying goes, ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’, and especially here, don’t judge me just because I am a ‘Yoof’.
I think what I wrote might have been mis- interpreted, because my argument states that
we don’t all smoke (CIGARETTES), drink, or as it was put smoke POT on park benches. I was speaking to a friend at school who said, “I don’t understand? We use POTS for planting things, setting them alight seems a little absurd” and I think he’s right.
Your opinion of what ‘Yoofs’ stand for is exactly the opinion I was trying to change or just address, the letter I wrote was not taking a stab at anyone in any form it was just trying to express the things we never get the chance to say. What also really upset me about the letter is your stab at our intelligence, was it only me who noticed that the word ‘Yoof’s’ couldn’t be spelt correctly? Along with some arguments which went nowhere? And the fact is if we can’t sort our own community out, how can we even begin to sort out third world countries? What also needs to be said is if anyone does something in their community (In third world countries)
they are recognised for it and respected, but here your lucky to even hear about it happening. My dad who is a member of the ‘British Royal Legion’ and also a Veteran would also like to mention about the 16 year olds who have gone into the Army, and also the younger people representing us in the Olympics, I highly doubt that they spent their evenings smoking, drinking and ruining our really nice communities?
After talking to many people about my letter and receiving a lot of compliments for finally standing up for something I believe in greatly, ‘little miss self righteous’ is now on a mission to help, and solve our issues, just like Mr D Waller suggested.
I think it’s time we took a stand for our beliefs and views, watching these documentaries stating that most young children are walking around with knives, POT and causing havoc on the streets, has made me realise that we have never really stood up for ourselves and said ‘Hey, look here! The only thing I have in
my bag is my wallet! And I wear this
because we live in England and it’s
as ra£t7he5r cold!’. Don’t get me wrong I know
there are some people out there that bring the rest of us down but putting us all into one category is really unfair, if you don’t give us the chance to prove you otherwise.
So thank you to Mr D Waller for being an inspiration to us all and especially me! With the help of friends we are in the process of creating a website which shall hopefully be up and running soon, which will be somewhere that we can express ourselves rightfully! So if it’s a fight the people who still have this opinion of us are looking for, bring it on, because we won’t be backing down any time soon.
Victoria Stean
Souls of Olney
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hoodie, not to look threatening, but