“What happened?”

“I was grinding on (fill in the blank), and now (fill in the blank #2) is mad at me, because he saw me, and we are supposed to do it tonight.”

“Oh my gosh. You are still doing it with him, right?”

“Of course, right after I get a little buzz. I mean, it is prom.”

The voices turn to laughter, and the clack of heels make a path for the bathroom door. I overheard this painful conversation in the bathroom at the Civic Center in Amarillo, April 16, 2016. As I was washing my hands, these girls demonstrated everything wrong with high school students’ expectations of prom night, sex and the idea of a “good time.”

High school students tend to put pressure on themselves to do anything and everything rebellious on this one night. They sneak sips of alcohol between every flash of their mothers’ cameras, they check their wallets to ensure the condoms are still hidden between dollar bills, and they compliment their dates’ attire with the intentions to strip them naked later in the night. For them, prom is a night to rush through milestones they have the rest of their lives to experience at a personal pace.

The legal age to drink alcohol is 21 years old, yet teenagers can be found filling their thermoses to the brim every weekend to feel a “buzz” and have a “good time.” Expecting teenagers to never have a drop of alcohol is unreasonable. Some drink to temporarily alleviate pain they experience in their personal lives, some drink because of peer pressure, some drink to feel big, while others drink just to get drunk. Whatever their reason, they need to keep themselves and the people around them safe, especially on the night of prom. The town of Canyon will be more alive on this night than any other night, so if students do drink they should never get behind the wheel of a vehicle. Call someone trusted, even if that someone is a parent. They would be there in a heartbeat; they may be frustrated and disappointed, but they would still be there. Be safe, not sorry.

Whether one practices a religion or no religion at all is a personal decision, but sex is still something of value. It is meant to be beautiful and filled with pure love–not rushed and filled with pure lust. For one to set a date to lose their virginity shows their immaturity in a relationship. Virginity can not be replaced or returned. That purity will now and forever be tainted by some high school student whose name will hold no personal relevance in the next five years. Students who have lost their virginity are generally expected to continue to have sex because of their friends and environment. Those people don’t have to be what others expect them to be. It is okay to say no.

I am not trying to preach at anybody; in fact, this has nothing to do with religion, but it does have everything to do with self-worth, maturity, standards and pacing. Everything is going to happen on its own time. There is no reason to rush into this one night. Prom night is roughly one out of 28,835 days you still have left to experience. There will always be more opportunities to do whatever desired, but let it happen on its own time…with no regrets.