DEAR ABBY: I am a 15-year-old virgin attending high school. Lately there has been lot of controversy about handing out condoms in our school. As an educated teen-ager, I would like to tell all of the adults who are trying to terminate the distribution that they need to go outside their fantasy worlds and realize that many teen-agers are having unprotected sex because of the lack of availability of contraceptives and condoms.
The risks of unprotected sex are no longer short-lived, but can have lifelong effects and, in some cases, can be terminal.
It is ignorant to believe that if we tell people not to do something they will always listen. Education is the key to awareness, but when education fails, some form of protection must be available. The comparison heard on the popular television series "Beverly Hills, 90210" is that you can build a fence around a pool and lock the gate, but if there is even a possibility that a child might get in, why not teach him to swim? -- MELISSA IN NORFOLK, VA.
DEAR MELISSA: Bravo! I couldn't have said it better.