Managing adolescents in our part of the world is mostly a conspiracy to keep dying at a distance, in deference to being “in the prime of life” or in the name of “having your whole life ahead of you,” by making what they call now “good decisions for yourself.” No one says, “You have your whole death ahead of you.” Almost no one can make any sense of it that helps. The kids are on their own, ducking parents’ fears about what they are exposed to every day and text messaging each other about another friend who went all the way. This culture can’t decide when a person becomes a living thing—that is
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