Sunday, March 4, 2012

The Gift of Youth

Of all the promises that I said that I would keep in my life, I think the one that I've lived up to the most, (sometimes maybe a little too much), is the promise that no matter how old I get that I would remember how it feels to be young.  I entered my 40's, (kicking and screaming against my will), almost 2 years ago but I can still remember some of the events, experiences, emotions of my late teens and 20's.

I'm not going to pretend that I was the smartest or most responsible person in my youth, but I will say that I lived it to the fullest.  I cannot bear to see young people these days living like shut-ins glued to the "boob-tube", video games, and what-not and never get out and experience the joys of being young outdoors.   Even when I was a full-time party machine, we would spend countless hours of the day playing basketball, going to the mountains, or some sort of outdoor activity.  Society is getting more and more geared to being indoors anchored to the computer, television and video game.  There are still the fun-loving adventurous souls who brave the big bad world and experience more than the inside living side of life, but they are getting  much more scarce.

Some more young folks that trouble me are "the angry-for-the-purpose-of-being-angry" kind of people.  I am aware that every generation has had the teenage angst and rebellion to deal with, but it seems that it has evolved/devolved into a pure rage, and hatred of anything positive or good.  I was a huge fan of punk as well as rap in my youth, not the r&b rap crap, or the commercialized, manufactured punk of today, and both were teeming with rebellion against a system that was unsatisfactory and is not any better nowadays, but even those had undertones of unity and a desire to make things better.   It's as though there has been a wedge driven between the young and anyone over 25.

The youth that upset me the most though, are the ones I see that seem to have no drive for anything, and that is coming from a pioneer in the Slacker Generation.   The pseudo-emo-ultra-depressed kids are the ones that break my heart.  All that the world has out there to enjoy, all the experiences of youth and being young in general being ignored in favor of self loathing and social detachment.  Get out and meet a girl/guy, join band, go on a road trip, just do SOMETHING!   I just don't get it.  I fear that in modern times the old quote from George Bernard Shaw rings true, "Youth is wasted on the young".

As I stated in the beginning, I'm not directing this to all the young people, because there are some that do tend to break the mold and do their own thing.  I'm not saying for young people to become the conformity minded masses that I see every day either, because the death of individualism is the greatest tragedy of them all.  I'm just trying to make a point that life is entirely too short, and being young is just a fraction of that, so live each day fully, and create those memories that you can look back on and smile and reminisce when you're an old fart like me!

Until next time, here's a newer song from one of my favorite bands of my 20's.  "Sunset in July" by 311.  I have found that it is LITERALLY impossible to be angry or in a bad mood when listening to 311, so smack those blues, foul moods or general anger away and enjoy:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkKy3E5Rx2c&feature=related


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