Disclaimer: This is not an age-basher. It stems from a handful of individuals that have no clue what they're talking about, but they assume they do because they're older and "wiser." As well as a few twenty-somethings that show a lack of maturity. And some teenagers that really have me stumped.
It's one of those things that just annoys me..as much as, if not more than, smacking and slurping. If you know me at all, you know that is saying something. I have a "thing" when it comes to bad table manners. Just like bad table manners, the habit of assuming someone else's knowledge/character is also curable. Teenagers aren't all whiny. Twenty- somethings aren't all selfish boozers. And those over-the-hill aren't all pompous. This blog, however, is about the ones that are.
Being in graduate school, there are several classmates that are older than I am... I don't think they're as discriminatory as the older classmates were when I was an undergraduate...However, there are constant references to age that gets my blood uh boilin'.
Because we're a decade or two younger than you, does it mean we don't know how to be respectful? Does it mean we can't "understand" or "grasp" the full concept of a situation or topic? Does it mean we don't know what a freaking lace doily is?
No. It doesn't. First of all, is it truly necessary to use a lace doily in a "but youuuuuu wouldn't know what thaaaat iiiiiis" situation? No! How ridiculous is that?
Maturity levels depend on life experiences. I know there are truly ignorant, disrespectful people my age. That doesn't mean I should be automatically in the same category as them just because we were born the same year.
In many situations, I get along with older people more than people my age...so don't think I'm an old people hater. I just happen to be fortunate enough to have come in contact with some obnoxious older classmates.
I can't say I'm innocent in the age discrimination thing. It's a habit for me to assume that if you're older and back to school, you probably wear hideous sweaters, have a rolling backpack, and laugh maniacally at whatever the professor says just to prove "oh, yes, Iiiiiiiii remember that. of course, Iiiiiiii know who you're talking about and what you're referring too."
As for early twenties give or take a few, I have come in contact with some that I have to resist the urge to shake them and inform them that it is not necessary to find something negative in everything and speak only the language of whining. Really. Is your life that bad? No. It's not. There are so much bigger things out there than your friend marrying your ex-boyfriend from junior high. And don't whine about being thrown in jail, if you were drinking and driving!! I mean, come on now. You have GOT to be kidding me.
Teenagers, well.... I can't rant about them, really. They're trying to find their place in the world...who they really are...and battle acne and puberty all at the same time.
However, the group that randomly meets with a lone and willing participant in the school park behind my house and proceeds to beat the crap out of that lone and willing participant for some kind of stupid, wannabe gangster initiation, gets my complete confusion. It's a suburban college town in Oklahoma, for Heaven's sake... not Harlem. And the fact that they (including the "victim") wave and smile at me as they're running away from my screeching, makes me feel more than a little befuddled. One day I hope I catch one of them in time to ask what in the hell they're thinking...
So, that's all. I'm all riled up thinking about those kids fighting.
Until next time...
"Good day." (Tribute to Paul Harvey!) :)
