Teen Talk Could Replace Fossil Fuels

Whenever gas prices rise, so does the discussion of alternative fuel sources. The threat of depleting our crude oil stores makes gas-guzzling humans consider the serious need to harness other forms of energy. After spending the better part of a weekend on a youth retreat with 22 teenagers, I may have discovered a new source of power.

Middle school girls feature a unique and tireless capacity for perpetual motion. Most of them never stop moving their mouths. Wire one up to an SUV, and you could drive across Texas with one pack of gum or a serious conversation on any number of topics from Ipods to college to cute boys.

My own daughter is twelve. We have marveled at her ability to talk incessantly. When she was a baby, she said her first words at six months and could speak in complete sentences within hours. Her pediatrician warned me.

“Girls start talking earlier than boys,” he said. “They have so much more to say, so they need the head start. And they don’t stop. They don’t ever, ever stop.” I knew he had daughters without even asking. The scar tissue on his ears said it all.

Our son, who said enough as a toddler to let us know he was hungry, sleepy or tired of listening to his sister continues to be a man of relatively few words much of the time. In the 10 minutes it takes to travel from school to home, my daughter has informed me in exquisite detail everything that transpired during the course of the day.

Sometimes I feel I was there in the flesh, actually witnessing Susie in her pink Gap sweatshirt, French-braided hair and gold-glittered flip flops while she chewed out Cynthia in her rhinestone studded cropped jeans, white fuzzy tank top and cherry red nail polish with matching earrings for dissing her in front of Jack, the boy with perfect hair who tells THE best jokes about how grown-ups are so very, very lame.

I am female and I can talk. Get me on a subject about which I am passionate and I can go on and on until the cows come home and the chickens roost and my audience has long ago left me yammering away at nothing more than a glazed expression. So I understand teenaged girls’ ability to flap their jaws even when no one is listening. It just seems such a vast waste of viable energy.

When we first departed for our weekend getaway to Twin Lakes, I hauled a group of boys in the van and was surprised at their conversation. There was some. They talked a lot, in fact, about sports and music and food. They told stories and jokes and laughed. It was interesting to note they took the time to breathe between sentences and the overall noise level remained pretty much in a conversational tone.

After we stopped for food, the boys traded spots with a group of girls who entered the vehicle seemingly oblivious to their change of venue. One gal shared a most imaginative tale at top volume that could have put “The Never Ending Story” to shame. It included everything from mermaids to Jesus to a musical interlude courtesy of a sing-along with Shania Twain’s “I Feel Like a Woman.”

In defense of flapping jaws, teenaged girls have a lot to say about things that matter. Contrary to what movies and sitcoms portray, it’s not all about who’s dating who and what to wear. They share insight beyond their years when discussing dreams and visions for their future. They are smart and clever and full of potential to run a world increasingly influenced by the resourcefulness and character of women.

Whether scientists ever find a way to use those mouths in motion as an energy source or not, these teenaged girls offer one of the most valuable resources we have. They are talented in ways that make a middle-aged “girl” like me feel good about what’s on the horizon. And so do the boys. Spending time with them is both invigorating and comforting. Only my ears, it seems, could use a retreat of their own.