The Twenty Virtues Book 1- The Twenty Generals

38-The melancholic and the emotional

A young girl was born, the youngest of three sisters, daughters of a couple ruled by their hearts. Both the father and the mother were loving and kind people, but they were also dominated by anger. Being temperamental, they would easily lose their composure, and if the slightest thing happened outside of their expectations, they would spend the rest of the day with their nerves on edge, like bulls charging at a red cloth. All the daughters inherited this temperament, making them easily irritable. The only one who differed slightly was the youngest, as she was always more rational, constantly seeking calm but always being overpowered by anger.

The father's name was Isaac. He was playful and gentle, always trying to stay positive and bring peace to the household, even joking at inappropriate times or being affected by others' fury. The mother was Sofia, the most easily irritated of the five. If the smallest thing went wrong with her plans, she would spend the rest of the day extremely angry, with a stern expression and a hair-trigger temper ready to explode. She was responsible and hardworking.

Now, let's talk about the sisters. The eldest was Rafaela, responsible, empathetic, with a heart of gold. However, not only would she easily explode, but since childhood, she had been extremely sensitive. She made friends easily but also drove them away due to her temperament. If the mother was the easiest to irritate, Rafaela was the one who, when angry, had the most violent behavior of them all, unable to control her tongue or actions.

The middle child was Diana, the most popular and hardworking of the three, but also extremely arrogant, unable to see, or at least admit, her flaws. She was always the one who wanted to do everything, believed she was the most capable, and thought she was always right.

Finally, the youngest: Tiffany, who had a significant age gap with her sisters. From a young age, she was shy and loving. Curiously, she was a calm child, probably because she was always quieter, more obedient, and more solitary. She was treated as the golden child by everyone and protected by her parents, but it was only during her mid-adolescence that her temperament began to deteriorate.

Puberty and hormones started to reveal a side of herself that she had never known before. She would get irritated by the smallest things; everything seemed ten times more important than it really was. But since Tiffany had always been the quiet one, for most of her life, she suffered in silence, holding back from ever responding. Whenever there was a problem at school, she never told her family. Diana would act as if it were nothing important, Rafaela already had her own share of problems to deal with, and Tiffany didn't want to burden her sisters further. Her father would try to make her feel better with jokes and other things, but she didn't want to feel better; she wanted to be better. And her mother... Tiffany simply felt that her mother wouldn't understand.

The phrase Tiffany hated hearing the most while growing up was, "This is just because of adolescence, when you grow up, you'll see how things will get better..." Even if it's true, even if it really is just a matter of time until she feels better, she doesn't want to live in anticipation of a better future; she wants to improve the present she's in. When people told her that what she was feeling was nothing, that it was temporary, she then felt as if she didn't matter, as if she was being dramatic. Maybe it was true; maybe she was being dramatic, suffering more than expected from something like that, but she couldn't help it—it wasn't within her control. So why should she be dismissed for something that isn't her choice to go through?

They say everyone goes through it, so does that mean that when you become an adult, you simply forget how awful it is for a teenager to be treated as if they are exaggerating or being dramatic? Maybe it really is something without a cure, something that can only be treated by waiting to grow up, but would it hurt to at least take this time seriously, when our balance is completely off? To be by our side when we cry? Honestly, you don't even have to give advice or say anything; just please listen to the cries of this girl. All she needs is to be heard; she just wants a shoulder to cry on, not a mouth to speak.