It's Not You, It's Me

Dear Childhood,
    First things first, I want you to know that its been fun. It was quite a ride and I don't regret a thing. The countless hours of running free and sleeping whenever i wanted were luxurious. Looking back, I regret how much I took you for granted. At the time it felt like we would be together forever and no one could break us apart.
    But now it seems as if the distance between us is ever growing bigger. When I was 8 and realized that maybe I shouldn't wear my Elmo shirt to school or watching Disney Junior was too babyish, you took it lightly and never blamed me. "We can still be friends" you said. "Lets play again tomorrow". But at that time having Elmo as your friend wasn't the cool thing. No one asked to "play" we just "chilled". Maybe it's just a phase?
    But as seventh grade came around and I wore a dress to school it became evident that maybe the days of skateboards and scraped knees were a thing of the past. Boys like girls who jump rope and dance. Cuts and bruises are so not attractive. I hope you'll understand.
    Now don't get me wrong, I loved the endless free time and guiltless amount of sweets and cookies but I'm in high school now. It's time I move on. Saturday cartoons are now to be replaced with essays and books. Cookies and sweets? Maybe just one- there's a track meet tomorrow afternoon.
   I know it will be hard for you and trust me, this is no easier on my part. I mean who couldn't miss the matching sweatsuits or piles of beaded jewelry you made with your best friend last weekend? But now the sweatsuits are to be replaced with expensive clothes from the latest trendy boutitque. Any beaded jewels have been turned to diamonds and gold. While having mom clean all my messes up was nice and blaming everything on my brother is tempting, I've come to realize I need to take a little bit more responsibility for my actions. I learned how to do laundry the other day and yes, it was actually me who broke the handle to the cupboard.
    While I don't want this to be a full on goodbye, I think it's best if we leave it as a "see you later". Sure we can still be friends but maybe the fact that I still love a good episode of PB & J Otter is best kept a secret between us.

Taylor Swift: Modern Queen of Revenge

Taylor Swift is well known in today's society for her sweet love songs and powerful breakup ballads. Many a joke has been made about her constant stream of boyfriends and the #1 Hit Single that goes along with them. Some of her best selling tracks have been the ones clearly about a past love who have broken her heart or hurt her in some way. Most people just look at as just another one of Taylor Swift's relationships gone bad but when you listen to the lyrics, it's clear that Taylor is REALLY good at getting back at her exes. By writing a catchy tune with a few well thought out lines, she is able make her boyfriends pay for what they did AND make a couple bucks out of it.

One of Taylor Swift's most famous breakups is arguably her breakup with Joe Jonas. After a wondrous relationship, Joe broke up with her over a quick 30 second phone call. Heartbroken and angry, Taylor wrote the song Forever and Always . Lyrics like "Was I out of line?/ Did I say something way too honest that made you run and hide/ like a scared little boy? I looked into your eyes,/ thought I knew you for a minute now I'm not so sure" are perfect examples of Taylor's ability to make a guy feel horrible about himself with just a few choice words. 

Continuing on with Taylor and Joe's love affair, Taylor's song Better Than Revenge is rumored to be about the girl Joe Jonas started dating immediately after their breakup. In this song, Taylor boasts that "there is nothing she does better than revenge" and that she "always gets the last word". With a song like this, so clearly calling someone out for their hurtful actions, I couldn't agree more. Writing about her problems in a song not only gives Taylor a way to get her emotions out, but when she puts the song out, everyone will then know what that person has done to her and be able to voice their opinion about it as well. Under the highly judgmental eye of society and Taylor's fan base, a song like that can ruin a person's reputation. 

Probably one of her most recent examples of revenge through song lyrics is We are Never Ever Getting Back Together . The song is reportedly about ex, Jake Gyllenhaal, with a fun video featuring a close look-alike to add to the rumors. 

While some people might make fun of Taylor for her numerous cases of revenge, we're all just lucky that she didn't take a lesson form Shakespeare's Hamlet. In this story, revenge is shown as a bloody warfare where the only way to get vengeance is by taking the other's life. Hamlet is set about to get revenge for his father's murder. This leads to multiple extravagant plots of poison, weapons and other cruelty. In the end, Taylor's once cruel way to get back at her boyfriends, now seems completely harmless compared to what Hamlet goes through. While I don't exactly agree with Taylor's way of humiliating her exes, I'd rather she continues her catchy singing career than follow in Hamlet's footsteps. 

Sources:

- lyrics provided by metrolyrics.com

- start of analysis read on http://starcasm.net/archives/178408

- photo link

- video found on youtube.com