I love kids. Well okay, I try to love kids. The little delinquents just make it so difficult at times...and for what reason? Do teenagers actually think...deep down...do they actually think they could possibly know as much as I do? I have the benefit of nearly half a century of knowledge and experiences spinned up on my hard drive ready to be processed at a moments notice. Granted, my processor speed isn't what you might see on newer models...but the library of information is vast and comprehensive.
I've read and digested Tolstoy, seen sunrises with my own eyes in distant lands, shook hands with a former President, and attempted to learn the metric system.
I know the strategic importance of Sun Tzu on and off the battlefield, the difference between effect and affect, the uselessness of calculus and Shakespearean quotes in everyday life, and how to change the oil in my own vehicle.
I've had gaping wounds stitched closed (never glued or taped), can start a fire with things found in my backyard, understand the true beauty in simplicity, and know the 1969 Woodstock festival actually took place in Bethel, New York...over 40 miles away from the town of Woodstock.
How could a teenager ever compete with such a reaching wealth of enlightenment? I beg to know how?!?! Yet teenagers, with no regard to humility or self preservation, often spew some of the most absurd, offensive statements know to come from even quasi-intelligent beings. In sure anti-hypothesis to Darwinism, teenagers have managed to dodge certain extinction at the hands of older, more cunning adults based exclusively on social and moral orders... a defining augment for Intelligent Design of our universe by a loving, merciful God.
I make reluctant apologies for my attitude today because I know I will continue to return to this place as sure as my next conversation...no, interaction...with a teenager (quite possibly my own). Conversation would imply thoughtful input by both parties.
(Maybe I should seriously rethink my rather bold statement circa 1982 about the promising career opportunities available attending Hamburger University...for McDonald's. Sorry mom and dad.)
11 comments:
Know where you are coming from! Just recently I asked my 18yr old daughter to help with some chores around the house. After arguing with her for a few moments, her response to me was "Mom, you chose this life, and if you want it done then you need to do it." I'm sure you can only imagine what I said next. Everyone one keps telling me that this too shall pass. Guess what, her turn is coming. I keep telling her that she will have a teenager one day.
That was great. I am still laughing!
You caused me some pain in the laughter but I won't hold it against you! haha
Just a few words....what goes around, comes around. Also, you are paying for your upbringing!
Love you, Mom
Hi Tony,
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I am with you my friend. My oh so sweet and never gets in trouble 18 yr old and I had a similar discussion as Ola. I had just told him that his choiced were to either get a job this summer or he would be assigned chores to do around the house. He said that it was not his home. He did not pay the bills for it and he would do chores when he owned his own home. Of course I did not reply as I would have liked. And in all honesty, he probably was trying to be funny and serious at the same time. It didn't sit well with me tho. I will have the last word and he will get a job. That is the last word. P.S. shortly after that conversation, he was cleaning his room, without any more prodding.:)
Insightful! I was actually going to write a blog about teenagers and after I logged on, I saw that you had a new post. I will have to think of something else.
But I was thinking that somewhere between 16 and 18 humans seem to reach the pinnacle of their intelligence.... which unfortunately shrouds the sense of self preservation. Amazingly all their friends are just as brilliant as they are.... the adolescent brain trust, you gotta love it.
I must admit it was once fun to be free, living life without the use of logic, the understanding of finances, or the need for a 401K. If I could live like that again, I'd run for president on the Democratic ticket!
Like my pastor is fond of saying, "They don't even know what they don't know yet!"
Seriously, did you not think that anyone over the age of 25 was completely clueless about modern civilization when you were a teenager? I know I did. I was even more obnoxious than I am now. Shocking, but true.
I just want to add that if I'd considered saying anything close to what some of the teens today say to their parents, I'd have been wallpaper in 3 seconds.
And my parents weren't violent.
I got "the look" and knew I should behave.
When Dad sent me upstairs in tears because I just couldn't figure out why it mattered that I know what time the trains meet if one leaves its station at 3 and the other at 5 (i still stink at math)...I'd go upstairs crying in frustration and all I could think of was that I'd hurt HIS FEELINGS by getting upset.
Our parents and our schools are letting the kids rule, in general...As Dennis Prager said the other day "If your kids aren't afraid of you, sooner or later you'll be afraid of them" And that's what's happened in our schools.
End of lecture.
And, of course, I WAS NO SAINT! My mother used to say "I hope you have NINE JUST LIKE YOU!" HEh
OK, my new fave from you.
Which president's hand have you grasped???? (Please say Reagan, please say Reagan...)
Do keep in mind that not all teenagers are this way. Or, at least, we try not to be that way! Check out www.therebelution.com when you feel frustrated with the next generation. Also, unless my understanding of history is incorrect, your generation was the greatest era of young people acting like they knew the best!
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