'75 here. All you youngsters can get the hell off my lawn.
Actually, what I’ve noticed is that I don’t so much feel older as I do the “kids” keep getting younger. Was I like that at their age? Yep, probably, but I felt mature and adult then. To some degree. That thing about how you never really feel like an adult? I still get that a little bit. But after three decades of being an adult, it has also set in a bit.
Mostly, I’m opinionated, and I remember things from the past 40 years because I was alive for them, so they aren’t history to me, they are a part of the life I experienced.
So as you guys get older, I think you’ll find that - like whatever happens after Trump, unless it does continue to get worse (which is quite possible), there will come a time when a younger generation won’t know what it felt like to live under this fascism, and you, having lived through it, will have your mind blown because it’s history to them.
Which I guess has helped me when I think about figures from history and the past in general. While I can’t imagine living before the era of cars, I do know that whatever time frame you look at - to the people living at that time, it was all contemporary and modern. And so when you see people that had relationships with other people and arguments and such, you really do realize that we’re all human.
Also, the older I get, the more I realize just how precious life is. And when you’re young, you really are going to live forever. But every single day that passes is gone forever. Every month takes you further forward. Each year goes by and never comes back. When your 20s are gone, they won’t ever return. Don’t let that upset you, just make sure you aren’t coasting along and wasting time, waiting for what comes next, because if you spend you life waiting for what comes next, you die without anything ever coming next. Don’t “make every moment count” - do take time to relax. Just make sure that you are not ONLY relaxing, and don’t put everything off to the future. Do what you can to enjoy the life you have as best as you can while also trying to keep improving things.
When I want to reply and tell someone to fuck off because I disagree with them, I try to remember the pleasant results of NOT doing that, so a reply like this helps me be a better person, thank you <3
I remember watching a CRT television belted to a five-foot tall roller stand, and we had suspended all classes that day, even though we were at school. We had just sat there, crying and watching the news, as both towers were smoking, then one had collapsed and myself and other kids had screamed, wailed, and one vomited there on the carpet. Occasionally someone would get pulled away to take a phone call, and they didn’t come back the same. They changed. We all changed.
I still remember Kevin Cosgrove’s last phone call.
For me, it was my first day at Texas Instruments. I had to show up to a mandatory Outlook training session (which was hilarious as I was being hired for a helpdesk position. I’d used Outlook since the first version in 1997 and supported it…). A guy came in and turned on the televisions.
I called my wife, who was working in the flight path of DFW airport. We also tried to get hold of my stepmother, who was working in the tallest building in downtown Dallas at the time.
It was much chaos, as I’m sure you remember, as nobody really knew what was going on or what further attacks might happen.
So for me, I was a young adult, married for about a year and a half when it happened - I got to live half a decade as an adult in the pre-9/11 world.
It’s hard for me to remember that for newer generations, all this bullshit that really started taking off hardcore after 9/11 is normalized. I saw our rights being taken away, the constant fear increase, the hatred for Muslims that blossomed into racism coming back out of its dirty closet, the rise of fascism.
'75 here. All you youngsters can get the hell off my lawn.
Actually, what I’ve noticed is that I don’t so much feel older as I do the “kids” keep getting younger. Was I like that at their age? Yep, probably, but I felt mature and adult then. To some degree. That thing about how you never really feel like an adult? I still get that a little bit. But after three decades of being an adult, it has also set in a bit.
Mostly, I’m opinionated, and I remember things from the past 40 years because I was alive for them, so they aren’t history to me, they are a part of the life I experienced.
So as you guys get older, I think you’ll find that - like whatever happens after Trump, unless it does continue to get worse (which is quite possible), there will come a time when a younger generation won’t know what it felt like to live under this fascism, and you, having lived through it, will have your mind blown because it’s history to them.
Which I guess has helped me when I think about figures from history and the past in general. While I can’t imagine living before the era of cars, I do know that whatever time frame you look at - to the people living at that time, it was all contemporary and modern. And so when you see people that had relationships with other people and arguments and such, you really do realize that we’re all human.
Also, the older I get, the more I realize just how precious life is. And when you’re young, you really are going to live forever. But every single day that passes is gone forever. Every month takes you further forward. Each year goes by and never comes back. When your 20s are gone, they won’t ever return. Don’t let that upset you, just make sure you aren’t coasting along and wasting time, waiting for what comes next, because if you spend you life waiting for what comes next, you die without anything ever coming next. Don’t “make every moment count” - do take time to relax. Just make sure that you are not ONLY relaxing, and don’t put everything off to the future. Do what you can to enjoy the life you have as best as you can while also trying to keep improving things.
The pharaoh has spoken!
Thanks, Mr. Miagi.
(He was your age when Karate Kid was made)
I really appreciated that. Thanks for the perspective.
Now, get off his lawn!
Yeah, why are you two still here on my lawn‽ ;-)
What a beautifully written comment. Thank you
When I want to reply and tell someone to fuck off because I disagree with them, I try to remember the pleasant results of NOT doing that, so a reply like this helps me be a better person, thank you <3
I remember watching a CRT television belted to a five-foot tall roller stand, and we had suspended all classes that day, even though we were at school. We had just sat there, crying and watching the news, as both towers were smoking, then one had collapsed and myself and other kids had screamed, wailed, and one vomited there on the carpet. Occasionally someone would get pulled away to take a phone call, and they didn’t come back the same. They changed. We all changed.
I still remember Kevin Cosgrove’s last phone call.
Newberg, Oregon, September 11th ‘01.
For me, it was my first day at Texas Instruments. I had to show up to a mandatory Outlook training session (which was hilarious as I was being hired for a helpdesk position. I’d used Outlook since the first version in 1997 and supported it…). A guy came in and turned on the televisions.
I called my wife, who was working in the flight path of DFW airport. We also tried to get hold of my stepmother, who was working in the tallest building in downtown Dallas at the time.
It was much chaos, as I’m sure you remember, as nobody really knew what was going on or what further attacks might happen.
So for me, I was a young adult, married for about a year and a half when it happened - I got to live half a decade as an adult in the pre-9/11 world.
It’s hard for me to remember that for newer generations, all this bullshit that really started taking off hardcore after 9/11 is normalized. I saw our rights being taken away, the constant fear increase, the hatred for Muslims that blossomed into racism coming back out of its dirty closet, the rise of fascism.
It wasn’t always that way. :(