I guess I must be getting old or something because I see so many things around me that don’t make any sense to me. I give you some examples…
Today I stop at the traffic light. It’s a nice day and I have my window down enjoying the weather. Suddenly, a vehicle pulls up next to me with what I call a “boom-crash” noise so loud it feels like my ears are being assaulted. The young woman in the vehicle is shaking her head wildly from side to side. She reminds me of a Zulu warrior preparing for battle.
I try to listen to him but I’m so embarrassed I have to roll up the window. The incessant boom-crash is matched by a tirade of gibberish, all strung together like the longest website URL you’ve ever seen. I still can’t escape the noise. I can almost feel it thumping through the glass at me. Still, the young woman shakes her head from side to side. She seems to be in some kind of dervish. I smile at how silly she looks, but she doesn’t notice.
The lights change to green. Fortunately, the young woman tears at breakneck speed, sucking that horrible noise away from me. She has one hand on the wheel and the other throws ash from a cigarette out the window. I slow down toward the amber light. Little Miss Deaf Ears steps on the accelerator and launches her little red Hyundai through the busy intersection like a missile. I shake my head at her carelessness.
A minute later I walk by and notice the same vehicle at the gas station waiting in line to fill up. I sigh at the futility of it all. I don’t understand the intensity of the supposed music. I don’t understand the impatience that makes the young woman run like that. And I’m sure I don’t understand the dangerous way she recklessly made her way through the busy intersection.
I talk to many young people on my travels. Most of them rack up hundreds of dollars in speeding tickets and hundreds of dollars each month in useless phone calls. I don’t understand that either. There’s nothing to show for the experience, just mounting debt. What a shameful waste!
Listening to the conversations between these young people reveals more horror to me. Favorite topics of conversation are how drunk they could have gotten over the weekend. If they are to be believed, one gets the impression that the entire weekend was spent in a mindless stupor of intoxication. Apparently, this constitutes “having a good time.”
The next topic of conversation is the latest batch of pills and potions that make you lose your mind. I must confess that I don’t understand it either. For me, mind-altering drugs are a scourge to be avoided at all costs.
“Shop till you drop” and “retail therapy” are words that are often thrown around. They seem to be curative measures that young people use to combat depressive moments. It seems to me that what is actually bought is not as important as “the act” of spending and being seen as prosperous. More growing debt – most of it seems to be tied to expensive credit cards and credit cards. At some point, this debt has to be paid.
Many young people seem to be so confused. All they seem to live in is the present moment. There also seems to be a great need to be constantly in a state of euphoria, hence the use of alcohol and drugs. The term “drug of choice,” while I dislike it, is parlance for them, just like “shooting rooms” and “harm minimization.” I don’t understand any of those terms.
In trying to help some of these young people, I offer them books to read, some from my private collection, some that I have written myself. They look at me like I’m pretty crazy. Read a book? Because? Now, THEY don’t get it. I hear them chuckle when my well-intentioned offer is flatly rejected.
It saddens me to think that the world has become so dark and scary for young people that many of them live only for the moment. They have no plans, no savings, and no desire other than hedonistic pursuits and instant gratification.
Many young people are being overtaken by consumerism. Drugs, alcohol, debt and dependence on others are just some of the evils that haunt these unfortunate young people. I’m not saying that ALL of our youth are exactly the same, but most of them display some or many of these negative traits. Not only are they not willing to learn, they just don’t seem to care.
I know that the world is not a perfect place. In fact, it is far from it. It never has been. But we must try to do the best we can despite all the pitfalls. Many of our young people seem to have simply been abandoned. They don’t even want to try. They just don’t get it. Frankly, neither do I.
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