OC HIGH: STUDENT NEWS AND VIEWS : Identity Seekers : Growth: Far from apathetic, most of today’s teens hold strong beliefs and goals. And whatever their approaches to life, they are no more lost than preceding generations.

John and Jane don’t believe in God. They don’t believe in the government, they don’t believe in their parents, they don’t believe in the family, and they certainly don’t believe in you.

Does this seem an accurate description of today’s teen-agers?

Anyone who nods yes has a lot to learn. Adolescents today still have dreams and beliefs as strong and as sacred as those held by the generations that came before them.

And while these beliefs may run from fatalism to eternal optimism, they are in reality no more extreme than those held by their parents or their grandparents.

Some groups demand a return to “family values” and insist that today’s teens lack spirituality and respect for life. If we believe them, we might shudder to think of a world in the hands of today’s youth.

In truth, religion, respect and reason still play an important part in many teen-agers’ lives, even as they struggle to find their identity.

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At Laguna Beach High School, a club known as Quick Fix provides a chance for the school’s Christians, and those who are just curious, to hear weekly speakers and exchange ideas. About 50 were at a recent meeting, making it one of the largest clubs on campus.

The club was founded, according to students, to provide a fellowship with other Christians and provide an introduction to religion for any who are interested. There are similar groups at other high schools throughout Orange County.

“Being religious is inherent in my nature,” senior Jeff Venstrom said.

Religion “guides you along and helps you in tough times,” sophomore Emily Moore said. “It teaches you to be kind to others and to make better decisions.”

Others who do not consider themselves religious still take strong moral stands and have strong moral beliefs. They refute the assertion that a lack of religion means an empty life.

“I don’t think we as people need to understand” any higher truth, said senior Whitney Cohen. “I live because I’m alive, and that’s that. Meaning is out of my grasp. I have self-worth, and I’m proud of my accomplishments.” Cohen’s credo--do unto others as you would have them do unto you--shows no aversion to adopting ethics espoused by religions.

There are those who view religion as negative.

“Religion prevents people from thinking,” senior Alexia Kielty said. “Many people (adopt) the first religion (they’re exposed to).” Others see organized religion as little more than a veiled exercise of power and the cause of needless bloodshed. Many with those views are as reasoned and emphatic as the opposing camp.

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Likewise, today’s teens have struggled with their feelings about marriage and lifelong commitment.

“(Marriage) is a ceremony. It’s a symbol of commitment,” said Venstrom, who plans to marry and have children.

“I believe it’s a symbol, too,” senior Adrienne Smale said. “Even though my mother and father are divorced, my mother kept his ring because it was important to her.”

Others were less enamored of the formalities. “Commitment is on a personal level,” Kielty said. “A person doesn’t need marriage (to prove that).”

Senior Gabriel Hart was even more incredulous, saying that a lifelong commitment is usually impossible. Love, for Hart, is often ephemeral, meaning a long-lasting love could work only in “isolated instances.”

And when it comes to raising a family, it’s “nothing like we hear it is,” junior Mitch Gillian said. “It’s not loving one another all the time. A lot of times it’s arguing and being mad at one another.”

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When it comes to the role of education, are today’s adolescents filled with more contempt than respect?

“I don’t think it’s contempt. I think it’s competition,” senior Trevor Perry said. “I see it in my parents; they’re always competing.”

Said Kielty: “It’s no longer ‘I want to learn for me.’ It’s ‘I want to beat this guy.’ ”

Senior Allison O’Keefe agreed: “I think we’ve taken a wrong turn. We need to go back to the basics.”

Whatever the basics may be, many students feel a steady, sometimes oppressive pressure from their parents to succeed. The priorities of parents, according to many teen-agers, are often at odds with what should be truly important in life.

Still, many teens are looking forward to college. “I think we all need the breathing space,” O’Keefe said.

“I’m excited to go into college,” Cohen said. “I want to study American government and human studies.”

And some are not planning for anything. “I don’t think about the future because that’s not living in the present,” Hart said. “This way, disappointment will be less of a big deal.”

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“I don’t like to be classified,” Gillian declared. “They call it Generation X, but (we’re) just like anybody else.”

Actually, Generation X refers to the 38 million people who were born between 1965 and 1975 and are now in their 20s or entering their 30s. A perhaps more apt label for today’s teens, but one that hasn’t really caught on, is the “13ers”--the 46 million born between 1961 and 1981 who constitute the 13th generation since the nation’s founding.

Whatever the label, Hart voiced a common frustration: “We’ve been left to clean up the mess” of previous generations.

Possibly the greatest source of disillusionment, however, is teens’ being perceived as a generation that’s lost.

Are teen-agers really any more lost than the generation that preceded them? It’s safe to imagine that today’s generation, though its social trappings and modes of expression are unique, will one day produce its share of Nobel Prize winners, world leaders and great inventors, just as it will produce its share of slackers, thieves, murderers and lost souls. But has any preceding generation been any different?

Each generation breeds its own brand of hope and contempt, produces its successes and failures and consists of millions of individuals with different beliefs and different goals.

As different as these two seniors:

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When I was younger, my father would tell me to stop doing whatever it was I was doing. I would ask him why and he would just tell me to stop everything. I would stop doing my homework and he would show me a sunset outside and tell me how beautiful it was. And, you know, it was beautiful. Life to me is such a gift. Every moment’s cherishable.

--Nicole Lombardo

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Once you stop caring about everything, you achieve true freedom.

--Gabriel Hart