my parents and I dont get along

EMSFD125, Good for you, being in EMS; you are doing something very useful--and you are learning about real life. You have probably noticed that many of the people you transport are not much like you; not only are they generally older, but, except for the trauma cases, they tend to be suffering from problems related to years of self-neglect--and/or working way too hard for insufficient pay to allow them insurance and good routine medical care. Also, unlike you, some of them are heavy smokers or drinkers--either because they don't understand the risks or they don't care or they're addicted. When I was an ambulance volunteer, I found this depressing--that most of our patients were both poor and badly educated when it came to health. It's as if their illnesses were an heavy and unfair tax they pay, simply because they're poor. Now, I assume that you do not judge your riders. It would, for example, be very cruel to look at someone with emphysema and think: well, of course, you're sick, because you smoked all your life, which was really stupid. You just wouldn't think like that. You realize that your job is to help people as much as you can, not judge how they came to be in your ambulance. Who are you (or me) to judge? And helping people feels good--even if it's really messy for awhile.

But, there ARE those who make judgments about groups of people. For instance, there are people who look at the poor and automatically think they are lazy and that, if they get sick, it's their fault because they don't care for themselves. If these judges actually thought about the larger picture--and, alas, most of them never do--they would realize how unreasonable they are. Your parents may be folks who make automatic negative judgments--about teenagers. And, like the people who make blanket judgments about the poor, they are, sadly, unlikely to change.

I don't know you, but if you're willing to do EMS work, this suggests to me that you are a responsible, helpful person. I don't know why your parents are so negative about you and your friends. Maybe, they are just like that: suspicious of teenagers, no matter what. They judge teenagers, as a group, to be automatically untrustworthy. I've seen this before.

I'd keep doing what you're doing--and try to take their criticism of you as coming from ignorance rather than ill-will. They probably love you; they just don't know how to show it to you at this age. Try not to think of them as mean--unless they actually abuse you, which is a wholly different story! Think of them as way underinformed about young people.

I figure you have a year or two until college. You may well want to try to open up better communication with your parents--but, hey, they've got to be willing to listen. If they won't do it, that's not your fault. Hang in there, keep going with the EMS, keep hanging out with other nice kids, keep up your grades. Virtue is usually rewarded to some degree! And good luck to you.