This post is little more than a rant, but I feel that it is something that has to be said. I, as part of generation Y and very much like my peers, am very opinionated and full of myself. I realize this, and while I think that it is something that is very integral to being a younger human being on this world, I believe that there is something else to it. While I do have a very high opinion of myself sometimes, I do find that I sometimes harbor a certain contempt for myself. And I think this has something to do with my expectations and attitude regarding a few things: How I should be treated, how I think of other people, and what I think of the world and how unfair it is.
Now, I know none of this is new to many people. Most people on this website have a fair number of years on me, being 19, and I doubt that anyone would be surprised to find that I am no different than the average teen. However, I think that I do carry a certain attitude with me regarding how I should be treated. Every human should be treated a certain way, but sometimes I find myself thinking that I should be treated with more respect because of the fact that I am young. Or, sometimes simply because I feel like I know more than others around me. I find this kind of attitude abhorrent in other people, and I think of how entitled they seem to think they are. Still, I find that this attitude is within myself as well. It’s appalling when I think back in retrospect, yet I still adopt that entitled attitude.
Maybe it’s part of being younger, of living in a world where people cater to the younger generation and say that we should have more of a chance than our elders all in the name of us being young. Sometimes I appreciate the boost in confidence, but there is still the danger, and ever present reality of egos being shot through the roof. Often, this ego leads me to looking down on others. This “fair chance” that I am being given seems to give me the mentality that I am entitled to everything that I have. And when someone treads upon that entitlement, my pride is hurt in more ways than one.
And because of this hurt pride, I find that my mind shifts to how unfair the world and everyone in it is. The reality is the exact opposite even though the feelings are still there. I sometimes find that my ego has become so large that I have lost sense of reality in a way. This leads to contempt from elders, because I then treat them with a certain kind of contempt. It’s a vicious circle. That’s why I title this post the way that I did. I find that this mentality is not just with me, but also many, many other people my age. I see it, and also hear it from my seniors when they talk of the younger generation. Why are we so contemptuous and believe that we know better, when we know that our elders have the upper hand on us as far as experience goes? Is it something that has been there all along? It is a question that many of us beg the answer to, elders especially. What can we do to change that kind of mentality in the younger generation? I know that I am working on my own attitude, though the answer still sometimes hangs just out of reach.
shudderingwords 