ZITS: ADOLESCENTS NIGHTMARE!

Zits cartoon strip. Courtesy Internet.

Z for Zits

I happen to read the comic strip ’Zits’ in a Newspaper our son subscribed for when I’s visiting the US many years back. I enjoyed the well-timed humor of the main character Jeremy Duncan. I didn’t know the meaning of the word ‘Zits’ at that time and looked it up in the dictionary. It surprised me to know that it meant pimples, which most adolescents experience in their teens.

However, I failed to notice any correlation between the word 'Zits' and the theme of the strip. There was seemingly no character having zits on his/her face. After that though, I forgot all about it as no publication known to me carried the specific comic strip in India.

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Since I’s to write something on the prompt word ‘Z’, I suddenly remembered the comic strip named ‘Zits’ as a possible starting point. The significance of the title ‘Zits’ occurred to me there and then like an act of serendipity.

For most of the adolescents, teen years constitute a phase of confusion turmoil and tribulations of mental and physical nature. One of the miserable circumstances of the phase is the appearance of unexplained zits on their young healthy faces. The untold misery this condition causes in young minds can be described as depression, isolation and being extremely conscious.

Similarly, the hero of ‘Zits’ Jeremy Duncan a tall somewhat clumsy but intelligent 16-year high school sophomore who aspired to become a rock musician faced extreme harassments and miseries in his growing up years. Hence the title 'Zits' of this comic strip seems to be symbolic, subtle and  imaginative one.

So much for the comic strip!

I recall somewhat vividly the horrifying scenario when I’s in my late teens and enjoying summer vacations. I started noticing the slow arrival of small eruptions on my face. Within a few days, the whole face was dotted and looked ugly. I felt devastated. I remained closeted in my room for days. I covered the offending things with Band-Aids. The mirror became the most hateful object. Fortunately, for me, the pimples cleared away soon enough. The vacation period was a Godsend.

I think only a few teens escape this disfiguring episode in the most impressionable period in their lives. Both my kids had more than their fair share of this scourge too.

I do not care what the dermatologists say about the causes of this upsetting condition (hormonal changes, clogging of pores, etc.) generally; blemishes fade away on their own or with some acne medication in due course of time.

Friends welcome here as always! 

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