You see, regardless of what those "extra special" episodes of "Oprah" and "Dr. Phil" tell you, I am not a drug addict.

And, in that same vein of thought, I'm not addicted to porn or prescription pills, and I'm not in any danger of becoming one of those kids who end up on "20/20" because their addiction to peer-to-peer networking sites (like Facebook and MySpace) has gone just a little too far.

You see, every time I open Newsweek or Time magazine or turn on my nightly dose of CNN, I hear about the problems my generation is facing.

And I don't just mean like increasing gas prices, the continuing war in Iraq or foreign policy. I'm talking about how, every time I look, a new study shows that nine out of 10 kids in my class are addicted to drugs or about how I have no "real concern for my future."

You know, I'm not saying I'm perfect.

In fact, my parents and select teachers will tell you that I'm far from it.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that, while my generation as a whole isn't perfect, we're still gonna survive.

Now I realize it's a parent's job to completely freak out anytime something remotely dangerous happens to his or her kids, but I think it's completely unnecessary to overanalyze situations.

But if things are changing for the worse, then that doesn't mean we can just sit back and try to keep things the same.

We have to change, too.

If more and more kids are becoming pregnant at younger ages and getting STDs, then we can't continue to stress abstinence-only sex ed. The simple fact is that kids aren't staying abstinent just because some nurse in eighth-grade health class tells them that having sex is bad. The kids who stay abstinent are choosing that path because it's a personal decision. While I'm not advocating, you know, like free condoms for everyone passed out during the school day, I'm trying to say that, if adults complain about what's going on with their kids, then they have to look at the situation realistically.

That goes with bullying, too.

Don't tell me that bullying is bad and that it's always there because I know that. And don't bring speakers to speak to kids about it because half the time what they say is just ridiculous and kids won't buy it. Watching some video in a school auditorium or some speaker talk about how violence changed his or her life is useless and an insult.

We're not stupid.

My name is Zac Brokenrope, and I am not a drug addict, an alcoholic, a pregnant teenager. But I am normal, no matter what that word actually means.