Some people say Collinsville is a boring town to live in. When I hear this, I cannot help but to disagree. Teenagers do not know what they want to do and complain to everyone that will listen that they are bored. The most teenagers do is go to Bucky’s and talk to people and hang out or until they get kicked out. When that happens they go across the street to Taco Bell to get some cheap Mexican food and talk to friends. The real problem is that teenagers do not know what they want to do and feel they need to complain to everyone that this town is boring and there is nothing to do.

            Some people may argue that Collinsville is not safe at night, but I disagree. The older people of this town blame all the vandalism and petty crimes on the teenagers, which I do agree that is the case most of the time. When teenagers commit these crimes most of the time they are bored and have nothing better to occupy their time. If they opened there minds a little bit, they could realize that there is a movie theatre in Edwardsville or a concert venue in Sauget, Il.  For example, my neighbor, who is a cop, caught the kids who were vandalizing his property but did not charge them, as long as they cleaned up there mess. When he asked them later why they had done it, the kids reason was that they were bored and had nothing better to do. If these kids had a more open mind, they would be creating their own fun or going to the movies and having fun there. If the City of Collinsville had put more money into youth projects or activities, this could help the situation by giving teenagers the opportunity to explore more creative or cheap activities if they did not have the money to go to other places, like the movies, or a concert.

            If Collinsville had put more money in youth orientated activities, this might help the teenagers so called problem. The real problem is that teenagers are poorly motivated and terribly lazy and cannot create their own fun. If Collinsville did have more youth activities, the problem would be the same because teenagers would still sit around at Bucky’s or Taco Bell and keep complaining that there is nothing to do. So if Collinsville would have more activities directed toward teenagers and it was not very successful because no teenagers showed up, you cannot blame Collinsville for trying to give teenagers something to do. You can place the blame on teenagers completely, there laziness and lack of motivation has created their own boredom and lack of purpose in today’s society.