Why Young People Fill Me With HATE.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Ultimately, I think it comes down to a lack of imagination, coupled with status quo blindness.  "Things will be like this for forever, so I don't need to hurry" along with "er, I didn't really think about that, I guess".

This is because young people are not immune to Sturgeon's Law.  90% of them are fundamentally not that bright, or only bright in specific, constrained ways.  Unless something is handed to them on a platter, with all the information there, the chances of getting them to actually do anything is very slim.

For example: last Sunday was the Chinese New Year celebrations in London.  Yes, a week after the actual Chinese New Year, but whatever.  London has the world's largest Chinatown outside of China itself, and they always put on a good show.  So I researched the programme of events, drew up maps and directions on how to get to China town and printed these all out in easy to understand handouts, which I then placed next to the registers.

I think about four people other than myself decided to go.  Which is more than would have gone if I had just put up a sign saying "New Year trip to Chinatown".  Out of 60 odd students, that seems pretty bad, I know, but when you compare it to our Halloween "party", it was an excellent turn-out.

Doin' it right.

[East Coast Hustle]

Nail, meet head.

It's not that I don't understand people who refuse to go out and grab life by the balls, it's that I understand them perfectly and they fill me with a hateful contempt so visceral that I literally have to restrain myself from choking the fucking life out of them so they stop wasting resources that could be going to people who fucking deserve to be alive.

[trippinprincezz13]

I dread 30 because I seem to be getting older, faster.  It's like I'm falling down a spiral DNA staircase at 32ft/s².  As if this wasn't bad enough, I seem to be, perversely, enjoying it.

Don't quite get the ZOMG 30! panic that a lot of people my age seem to be having, at least not specifically. Maybe it's because all I hear is "Oh no, 30!" and I feel like, "so?" because there's usually no reason given for the panic. I mean, yea, seems like I went from 21 to almost 27 pretty fast, but physically not much has changed (still get carded for cigarettes most of the time) and I don't feel different. So, the number doesn't faze me that much, though the speeding up of time does a bit, if that makes any sense. Although I've been coming to the realization/acceptance that I don't need to define my life by a career (I'm just happy working as a paralegal, but people don't understand why I don't want to "do more" and become a lawyer), but, if that's the case, what DO I want to do? Find the best balance I can of fun and responsibilty, just not sure how I want to do it I suppose. And I do get the weird, confused feeling when I see a lot of others my age (and younger!) getting married, having kids, buying houses, and that nagging feeling that I'm SUPPOSED to be doing some of these things, but that's not right either. (You mean you don't want kids EVER?!?). Right now my boyfriend and I are happy with each other, our apartment, our jobs (happiness may vary) and our pets. There's no desire to follow what seems to be the "regularly scheduled program", but there is that kind of "what's next", or maybe more "what else" phase going on how we plan to spend our future instead.

That's what baffles me a lot. Yes, the wasted life in front of the TV or various electronics meant to keep us busy, but this weird sense of urgency to rush into "growing up" and "settling down", having children and getting married. NOT that there's anything inherently wrong with those things either, but I see a lot of people rushing to "grow up" only to have reality come crashing down, resulting in misery in varying degrees of awfulness.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Nail, meet head.

It's not that I don't understand people who refuse to go out and grab life by the balls, it's that I understand them perfectly and they fill me with a hateful contempt so visceral that I literally have to restrain myself from choking the fucking life out of them so they stop wasting resources that could be going to people who fucking deserve to be alive.

Part of being a Holy Man™ is that you have to spend too much time "at the office".

[Nephew Twiddleton]

I dread 30 because I seem to be getting older, faster.  It's like I'm falling down a spiral DNA staircase at 32ft/s².  As if this wasn't bad enough, I seem to be, perversely, enjoying it.

Don't quite get the ZOMG 30! panic that a lot of people my age seem to be having, at least not specifically. Maybe it's because all I hear is "Oh no, 30!" and I feel like, "so?" because there's usually no reason given for the panic. I mean, yea, seems like I went from 21 to almost 27 pretty fast, but physically not much has changed (still get carded for cigarettes most of the time) and I don't feel different. So, the number doesn't faze me that much, though the speeding up of time does a bit, if that makes any sense. Although I've been coming to the realization/acceptance that I don't need to define my life by a career (I'm just happy working as a paralegal, but people don't understand why I don't want to "do more" and become a lawyer), but, if that's the case, what DO I want to do? Find the best balance I can of fun and responsibilty, just not sure how I want to do it I suppose. And I do get the weird, confused feeling when I see a lot of others my age (and younger!) getting married, having kids, buying houses, and that nagging feeling that I'm SUPPOSED to be doing some of these things, but that's not right either. (You mean you don't want kids EVER?!?). Right now my boyfriend and I are happy with each other, our apartment, our jobs (happiness may vary) and our pets. There's no desire to follow what seems to be the "regularly scheduled program", but there is that kind of "what's next", or maybe more "what else" phase going on how we plan to spend our future instead.

That's what baffles me a lot. Yes, the wasted life in front of the TV or various electronics meant to keep us busy, but this weird sense of urgency to rush into "growing up" and "settling down", having children and getting married. NOT that there's anything inherently wrong with those things either, but I see a lot of people rushing to "grow up" only to have reality come crashing down, resulting in misery in varying degrees of awfulness.

Marriage and children are one of those things that should never be rushed into or done because you're supposed to. Thinking like that gets people into stupid messes, very messy messes.

I almost reflexively shake my head at anyone who gets married unless there's a good reason for it, like you've been together for 7 years and haven't killed each other and still want to have sex. That is, people under 30. I see no particular reason for anyone to get married in their 20s, and plenty of reasons not to.

And kids? People seem to have kids without thinking about the consequences very carefully. I don't fault anyone who has a kid by accident, or it just happened, or things fell apart last minute. That shit happens. But people who jump into it and will think it will be this great and awesome thing and oh we'll take care of any problems as they come up don't really seem to understand what precisely could go wrong. And then there's the ones like my sister who bred with her scummy ex because they both were single parents and wouldn't it be nice if they had a kid together and never mind that he treats her like shit and uses racial slurs to refer to my half-Indian niece.

Yep. Hey, people get into shitty relationships too, I suppose, but intentionally bringing a kid into that sort of mess is mind-boggling.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Marriage and children are one of those things that should never be rushed into or done because you're supposed to. Thinking like that gets people into stupid messes, very messy messes.

Bullshit.  I got married the first time at 23, and I am now an expert on marriage, having done it so many times, and look how THAT worked out.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Marriage and children are one of those things that should never be rushed into or done because you're supposed to. Thinking like that gets people into stupid messes, very messy messes.

Bullshit.  I got married the first time at 23, and I am now an expert on marriage, having done it so many times, and look how THAT worked out.

How many times have you been married? I only thought it was twice.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Marriage and children are one of those things that should never be rushed into or done because you're supposed to. Thinking like that gets people into stupid messes, very messy messes.

Bullshit.  I got married the first time at 23, and I am now an expert on marriage, having done it so many times, and look how THAT worked out.

How many times have you been married? I only thought it was twice.

4 times.

Twice to Maria, and two other times, the last of which seems to have "taken".

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Marriage and children are one of those things that should never be rushed into or done because you're supposed to. Thinking like that gets people into stupid messes, very messy messes.

Bullshit.  I got married the first time at 23, and I am now an expert on marriage, having done it so many times, and look how THAT worked out.

How many times have you been married? I only thought it was twice.

4 times.

Twice to Maria, and two other times, the last of which seems to have "taken".

Well, when I end up tying the knot, I know who to ask what I'm doing wrong.

[Cain]

All I'm going to say is that out of all the people I know of my age, all those that have kids live within 10 miles of the shitty town I used to reside in.  And have shitty, sub-standard jobs and generally do not strike me as happy people.

The only exceptions to that are those who are married.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Marriage and children are one of those things that should never be rushed into or done because you're supposed to. Thinking like that gets people into stupid messes, very messy messes.

Bullshit.  I got married the first time at 23, and I am now an expert on marriage, having done it so many times, and look how THAT worked out.

How many times have you been married? I only thought it was twice.

4 times.

Twice to Maria, and two other times, the last of which seems to have "taken".

Well, when I end up tying the knot, I know who to ask what I'm doing wrong.

I did everything RIGHT.  I had a hell of a time, and none of my ex's hate me, so, you know...

TGRR,
Monogamous, but apparently not monogamous for life, like some snakes are.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

All I'm going to say is that out of all the people I know of my age, all those that have kids live within 10 miles of the shitty town I used to reside in.  And have shitty, sub-standard jobs and generally do not strike me as happy people.

The only exceptions to that are those who are married.

I have found that most people who have kids and are happy PLANNED to have those kids.  By which I mean they intentionally set out to have them.

[Cain]

Yes, that definitely seems to be the case with those couples.  The rest...yeah.  Ironically, its those ones (not the married ones) who spam their Facebook feeds with millions of pictures of their children daily, telling us about how amazing and wonderful they are.

I think they doth protest too much.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Yes, that definitely seems to be the case with those couples.  The rest...yeah.  Ironically, its those ones (not the married ones) who spam their Facebook feeds with millions of pictures of their children daily, telling us about how amazing and wonderful they are.

I think they doth protest too much.

That drives me nuts. Just start up a profile for your kid then, and hand it over to them in 13 years, if Facebook is still around then.

[trippinprincezz13]

I dread 30 because I seem to be getting older, faster.  It's like I'm falling down a spiral DNA staircase at 32ft/s².  As if this wasn't bad enough, I seem to be, perversely, enjoying it.

Don't quite get the ZOMG 30! panic that a lot of people my age seem to be having, at least not specifically. Maybe it's because all I hear is "Oh no, 30!" and I feel like, "so?" because there's usually no reason given for the panic. I mean, yea, seems like I went from 21 to almost 27 pretty fast, but physically not much has changed (still get carded for cigarettes most of the time) and I don't feel different. So, the number doesn't faze me that much, though the speeding up of time does a bit, if that makes any sense. Although I've been coming to the realization/acceptance that I don't need to define my life by a career (I'm just happy working as a paralegal, but people don't understand why I don't want to "do more" and become a lawyer), but, if that's the case, what DO I want to do? Find the best balance I can of fun and responsibilty, just not sure how I want to do it I suppose. And I do get the weird, confused feeling when I see a lot of others my age (and younger!) getting married, having kids, buying houses, and that nagging feeling that I'm SUPPOSED to be doing some of these things, but that's not right either. (You mean you don't want kids EVER?!?). Right now my boyfriend and I are happy with each other, our apartment, our jobs (happiness may vary) and our pets. There's no desire to follow what seems to be the "regularly scheduled program", but there is that kind of "what's next", or maybe more "what else" phase going on how we plan to spend our future instead.

That's what baffles me a lot. Yes, the wasted life in front of the TV or various electronics meant to keep us busy, but this weird sense of urgency to rush into "growing up" and "settling down", having children and getting married. NOT that there's anything inherently wrong with those things either, but I see a lot of people rushing to "grow up" only to have reality come crashing down, resulting in misery in varying degrees of awfulness.

I almost reflexively shake my head at anyone who gets married unless there's a good reason for it, like you've been together for 7 years and haven't killed each other and still want to have sex. That is, people under 30. I see no particular reason for anyone to get married in their 20s, and plenty of reasons not to.

Yea, I mean, boyfriend and I are creeping up on that 7 year mark and almost as long living together without wanting to kill each other (yea, we rushed into that due to circumstances, but it's magically worked) and yea we've dabbled in marriage talk but then we've also figured we've been together this long and things are going good, so no reason to muck it up with extra complications. A year or two ago my office handled a divorce of a few kids within months of my age after only a year. That was...odd, and sad.

And kids? People seem to have kids without thinking about the consequences very carefully. I don't fault anyone who has a kid by accident, or it just happened, or things fell apart last minute. That shit happens. But people who jump into it and will think it will be this great and awesome thing and oh we'll take care of any problems as they come up don't really seem to understand what precisely could go wrong. And then there's the ones like my sister who bred with her scummy ex because they both were single parents and wouldn't it be nice if they had a kid together and never mind that he treats her like shit and uses racial slurs to refer to my half-Indian niece.

Yep. Hey, people get into shitty relationships too, I suppose, but intentionally bringing a kid into that sort of mess is mind-boggling.

I agree, shit happens that you don't expect and I can't fault anyone for that. But a friend of ours that we met when she was 16 (a year younger than my little sister ffs) and all she could talk about was wanting kids. Tried explaining why that was a bad idea (for her age, not against kids in general) but it fell on mostly deaf ears. At 19 had an "accident" with someone she'd been seeing for about a week. That predictably fell apart soon after. Dad kicked her out (which shocked her, because she thought having a grandchild would make him happy....but there were a lot of issues at home. ). She was all over the place for a while and her circumstances were tough but she seemed to be doing well as a mother at least. Then she almost lost the kid under shady circumstances, but then again things seemed to be getting better. She moved away, her dad was helping her out again and things for all appearances, seemed good. And, found out not that long ago, found out she hasn't had him for months, is facing abuse/neglect charges and is pregnant with a second child, who she may likely lose as well. While it is horribly sad, it's sadly not very surprising (well, I'd dispute the abuse part), and even puts a few other things into place. This is maybe an extreme case, but a good example of rushing into it for the worst reasons - to fill any numer of holes in her life and when that didn't happen things got that much worse