Today's Youth Vs. You Old folks on Thoughts

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

A thread I saw recently sparked my interest in the subject. The thread asked if I feared death, and it made me think not only about what I feared, but what I think alot about.

I’m young, very young. It wouldnt surprise me to find out that I’m one of the youngest people on the board. Society has me fearing wether or not I’m going to recieve a college education and get a well paying job more than I fear death, disease, or just about anything else. This is not because I am not qualified - I am one of the top students in my class. Before my 13th birthday I had decided that religion was obsolete. I decided (based on my education and interest in the subject of evolution,) that religion was a tool for manipulation. This sounds narrow minded, and I do not judge people for being religious. I wish I believed in a supreme being, I really do. Education a little later on has only supported this, in my mind. I am not trying to offend. I include this because I am not the only one I know who doesn’t believe in a god - I have found that quite a few people I know do not, and think that numbers will only increase as time goes on. There are countless things I could ramble on about, but we can start with this. How did you think when you were younger? What were your fears? Do you feel society has changed younger generation’s concerns? How?

I realize this is poorly organized but I’m in a hurry.

2

I often fear that unseen forces are trying to manipulate me into doing their homework.

I am in school, though, so it’s not entirely rare when you’re 37 and the kids think you’re smart.
I keed. :wink:

3

I was an atheist. In Oklahoma. I got into lots of arguments.

Nuclear war. Back in the 80’s we were all convinced the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. would eventually push the button and we’d all be incinerated. It was morbidly fascinating.

You guys are much better at working together than we were. We were all cynic, selfish jerks. Mostly we still are … . :smiley:

4

In the 70s, we believed that hiding under our desks, with our hands over our heads, would totally protect us from nuclear war. And girl cooties, which were far worse.

5

In the 1950s, I felt very secure because I lived in a small town. I thought that if someone dropped a bomb, it wouldn’t affect me. Yet we were given dog tags to wear around out necks that had our names, our fathers’ names, our addresses, our blood types, and our general religious faiths. (Everyone was a Protestant.) When I asked why anyone would want to know what religious faith I was, I was told that was so “they” would know what pile they should put my body in for burial. At that point, I began to take things seriously.

But after a while, we sort of got used to the threat. Then in October of 1962, we thought for three days that we were going to be wiped out. I spent time listening to beautiful music and reading poetry and telling my folks goodbye. (I was in college.) I also went to class just in case I lived. Then it was over and I was never as afraid of being bombed after that.

I always assumed that I would go to college and work with young people. Eventually I became a teacher.

What I wished that I had learned very early was to stop living in the future. I wish I had just taken joy in each day instead of worrying about getting married and having babies and being able to retire.

“Catch the joy as it flies.” – William Blake

Travel as much as you can abroad – as early in your life as you can. Don’t do it on a tour though. Go independently or with friends.

6

I’m kind of on the same page. I don’t fear death for myself. I’ve had a reasonable share of illness, but my greatest fear regarding illness is the financial aspect.

I’m with you, though. My major fears for the future involve never having any success. I’m afraid I’ll never have a career or make enough money or sometimes that I’ll never graduate college. I’m also afraid I’ll never be married or have babies, which is something I want. It just all seems so improbable- I’m struggling for everything right now and it seems like everything could be taken away in a heartbeat. I want stability and enough success that I can stop struggling and be comfortable, but it’s hard to imagine that I could ever have such a vastly different life.

7

I was an agnostic at around 8 and an atheist by the time I was 10. My parents weren’t particularly religious, so there was not any societal penalty to pay. The truth of the matter was that my religious relatives were weirdos and contributed to my rejection of religion.

Thoughts of death only became relevant in my thirties when my body actually no longer functioned perfectly (bad knees, too much ultimate frisbee). I’m really hoping for a quick death where no one has to worry about me. My biggest worry is about running out of money before I die. At this point in time, I don’t want to have to have someone take care of me.

That said, people tell me that I’ll change my mind when I get to that point. I hope not. I don’t fear death so much as a fear the dreariness of hanging in there after my usefulness is over.

8

I’ll answer in depth later once I’ve thought about it more. It’s actually a good question.

But one thing I have to say about you whippersnappers besides “Get off my lawn”- a lot of you use vulgar language in public WAY MORE than in necessary. I’m a store clerk & I’ve had to call down quite a few younger (teens into mid-20s) customers for swearing with crowds of people, including little kids, around.
I mean- we swore back in the day but mostly just among ourselves- not with public audiences.

Real response comes later.

9

Short answer: A lot of stuff I worried about earlier in life is Just Not That Important.

10

Yeah but did you actually believe that would happen? I grew up in the 80s and while apocalyptic nuclear war was pervasive in media and the arts, I don’t think it ever actual kept me up at night. It was sort of like one of those horrible things everyone worries about that never comes to pass. Like Y2K or global warming.

On an unrelated note, kids seem a lot more materialistic these days than in the 80s and 90s. I mean if MTV is still any sort of indication of youth trends.

11

I figured the odds were pretty decent, maybe 5% or 10%.

12

In my teens and twenties I cared much more about other people’s approval, and worried if I would do well in some career.

Now in my fifties it feels mostly like the career story has played out (fairly well, much better than the worries, not nearly as good as the daydreams). I don’t embarrass nearly as easily. I worry more about disappointing people who depend on me, and about life not being long enough.

Not so worried about getting older; the bigger worry is NOT getting older.

13

I don’t sweat the small stuff as much as I used to. I am more comfortable just being myself today and not trying to project I’m something I’m not. I wish I did not spend so much time at work and more time with my kids.

14

Hey! Fellow young’un checking in here.

Death…see, death and I made a deal. I promised not to freak out over my impending death when I’m old and decrepit, and in return I don’t have to fear it now, when I’m young and healthy. Actually, it’s weird–I’m not religious at all, but for some reason I find the idea of the Grim Reaper really compelling. Like, I believe in him, almost. No god, but death. That sounds really creepy when I put it that way.

15

It took me to the age of thirty to figure out that older people had already been where I was going and not all of them were full of horse poopies!

I’m in my sixties now and still seeking out people who are older than I to help light my path through the next decade of life.

Look for mentors!

16

I thought that I could accelerate my maturity by hanging around adults. That turned out to be mistaken in so many different ways.

17

How did you think when you were younger?

Role models shaped my thinking. I owe them. Bascally, I coped the aspects of their lives that made it possible for me reach the places in life I wanted to go.

What were your fears?

I feared angst. It takes up so much of your time and is unfufilling.

Do you feel society has changed younger generation’s concerns?

Not really. I’m watching the fourth generation develope and not much changes.

I’ll distill it down to the basics:

I need to have something I can do to make a living.

I need to have someone with whom to share life.

I need to have something that I do well and makes me feel good.

18

Yes, I’ve seen the creepy little video with the careful turtle who we should all take after. He hides in his shell to survive the bomb, we hide under our desks. We’re all very, very safe.

I’m pleased with the responses I got. I try not to fear the future, but thats almost what they teach you to do in high school these days.

19

First of all, in the interest of full disclosure, most people would argue I’m not terribly old (27.)

How did you think when you were younger?
Starting in 6th grade through about, oh, 11th grade, I was a deeply religious fundamentalist Christian. The ‘‘black/white’’ worldview really appealed to me. I was a smart kid, but not terribly good at thinking critically. I was always very driven by my heart and my feelings, and I was kind of a hippy (yes, and fundamentalist. It was… weird.) I had no interest in politics, history, or any of the things that I now find absolutely riveting. Instead, I was an artist, a writer, a head-in-the-clouds dreamer-of-utopia. I hated war, wanted to shelter all the homeless people and save their souls at the same time.

My plan from about 4th grade onward was to earn my Ph.D. in clinical psychology, and once I was finished with school get married and adopt some kids. I was dead serious. I never doubted for a second that I could do it, never worried about finding a job, had basically just been taught that education was the ticket to a successful career. I was a straight-A student and told I would be successful; never had any reason to doubt it.

The older I got, the more laid back I became, and the more I began to see all the shades of grey inherent in the world. By the time I was 15 or 16 I was not so fundamentalist but still somewhat faithful, and by the time I was 18 I was an atheist (and still am.)

**What were your fears? **
Being killed by my mother or my mother killing herself, getting bullied at school, dying in general, being tortured to death, being shot by a random gunman, and going to hell. Honestly, looking back, I feared everything, all the time, at any moment. I was in so much constant fear that I ended up with an esophageal hernia at age 16 (same year as Columbine… that event combined with everything else going on just freaked me the hell out.)

I cope with fear more skillfully now than I did back then, but it’s a hard habit to break.
**
Do you feel society has changed younger generation’s concerns? How? **
Honestly I don’t think too many young people or people in the general population are aware of how bleak the picture is for graduating students. I think you, OP, are in a minority of worriers. For one thing, I think a lot of kids take for granted that they can just live with their parents until they find work. What they don’t realize is their parents are in shaky territory as well.

I don’t think the average person realizes just how bad it really is. And I’m not just talking about the recession, I’m talking about the rise of job insecurity and financial risk, the fact that wages have stagnated over the last 30 years as the cost of living continues to rise, the fact that an alarming number of people will be dependent entirely on social security for their retirement income… I could go on, but I don’t want to depress you.

I think today’s young people are fantastic, but I’m not convinced they worry about the future on any kind of mass scale.

Life did not work out as planned. I ended up majoring in Spanish and becoming involved in social work (though I don’t think anyone would be terribly surprised to hear that, they’d probably do a double-take when they heard I took a policy track.) I fell in love at 19, and married at 23, before I had even graduated from undergrad. I have no earthly idea how to fit children into my life, though we are still committed to adoption. My husband of four years is in a Ph.D. program himself and I’m working on my Master’s degree in social work at a ridiculously overpriced, I dare say overrated school.

I don’t know what the hell I’m doing with my life, I’m going to graduate next year with my MSW and I’m trying to decide whether or not a Ph.D. will be worth it. I don’t know if I will find a job or how much it will pay. I don’t know what I’m going to do with all this debt.

On the other hand, we’re in good shape for retirement, and as of this Saturday we’ll have two brand new cars paid in full, so maybe we’ll be all right.

I never valued money that much anyway. Status, yes. Money, no.

ETA: I realize this sounds kind of bleak. In no way do I mean to imply that I wish my life had turned out as planned. I like my life. My husband is amazing. I have goodness all around me.

20

I feared being shot by random gunman in high school before I got there. I also find that many of my peers are not near as concerned as I am about the future, as they hope it will all simply fall together. I wish I was as naive. About the debt - my father says that money is just numbers, and who cares If he is in debt. He says the more debt he accumulates the more stuff he has, which scares me. I am not so concerned about money, as I am stability. I suppose I carry a variation of the “American Dream” in my head as to where I will be in the future. I would like a nice house, a couple new cars, a family, and a motorcycle (I’ve been raised on them.)