Stories from my friends’ weekends always have the same ending, “Yeah, so then we just hooked up, I guess.” In my eyes, what’s the point? Would it have been worth it if three weeks later she lets you know that she’s pregnant? How about if you realized that you actually have no feelings for this girl whatsoever, but she’s going to make you take care of the baby? It’s those thoughts I think about when I hear those stories. I am not sure about you, but I plan on leaving this place when high school is over, and taking a baby with me is not what I want to do. When I go to college and I am asked about previous relationships, being abstinent won’t be the first thing I tell them, but I won’t be shy about it. I think that it shouldn’t be a matter of me needing to announce myself and my beliefs, rather let me do what I want to do and, more importantly, what I choose not to do.

It is not just about what could happen, because I am not someone to live life worried about what could happen. I think there is a serious problem with how sex is perceived today. I like to keep my comments to myself for the majority of the time, mostly because of the negative responses I get. Even when the majority of my friends know my view on pointless sex, when I speak up about it there is always that one comment like, “Stop being a _____” or  “Grow a pair.” What scares me the most is the health factor. My brother is always telling me stories about guys and girls going in and getting tested and getting the awful news that they aren’t clean, then thinking about all the precautions they now have to face. Even that phone call or conversation with your mom telling her that you had a crazy night and got the test results back and you now have a sexually transmitted disease; it just isn’t worth it.

I plan on getting married one day, and there will be nothing more satisfying than telling her that I saved myself for her. I will be ecstatic if she replies with the same thing, but the sad truth is that most likely she did not save herself for me. I can’t say it won’t upset me at first; if she is the right one for me, then I will be able to get over it. For me it is about respect for her, so she doesn’t have to think about who was better. If I have second thoughts, or if she has big shoes to fill or not, having her know that even when I was a physically changing teenager during my high school years, I was still true to her.

I believe that today’s generation is so caught up with the physical aspect of relationships that within a couple months of doing the same sexual things, they realize that it is not going to work out. Every intimate moment means nothing. I understand that not every relationship works out, but the focus should be on the mental and emotional aspects instead of the physical ones. It is harmless to get to know somebody and conclude that it just wasn’t meant to be before things get intimate. I am not oblivious; I am well aware that the path that I chose is not for everybody. That doesn’t offend me, nor do I think it is wrong or that anybody who doesn’t abstain is going to hell. I believe that I picked correctly and that is my opinion and I do not want to offend anybody with my beliefs.

The biggest problem I have with explaining myself is because of all the misconceptions. You have no idea how many ridiculous questions I get regarding my boundaries or testing my limits. Sexually speaking, I am open to anything besides having sex. I believe it can wait, and, ultimately, if that is why a girl doesn’t want to be with me, so be it; it wasn’t meant to be anyways.

Looking back on my choices, I know that I can be happy with what I want and where I am going to end up in life.