Twenty Somethings

[boont]

Any one else ever get the 20-something, "condescending attitude"? I thought this went away after my friend Tom finally confronted his daughter's boyfriend with, "Son, do you know what I do for a living?"

At the time, we both were working on the latest "Star Wars" and could make these guys think twice about how "old and out of date" we were.

Now I've been retired for awhile and "yikes", it's back.

Don't want to sound like Gloria Swanson in "Sunset Boulevard"...

"I am big, it's the pictures that got small".

But, I am not going to be invisible either. My wife says, if you are over 50 you are invisible to most people under thirty.

Do I really care what these punks think? No, I don't. But both my neighbors are in their nineties, and the older I get, the more respect I have for people older than I am.

boont.

 

[haha]

Any one else ever get the 20-something, "condescending attitude"? I thought this went away after my friend Tom finally confronted his daughter's boyfriend with, "Son, do you know what I do for a living?"

At the time, we both were working on the latest "Star Wars" and could make these guys think twice about how "old and out of date" we were.

Now I've been retired for awhile and "yikes", it's back.

Don't want to sound like Gloria Swanson in "Sunset Boulevard"...

"I am big, it's the pictures that got small".

But, I am not going to be invisible either. My wife says, if you are over 50 you are invisible to most people under thirty.

Do I really care what these punks think? No, I don't. But both my neighbors are in their nineties, and the older I get, the more respect I have for people older than I am.

boont.

Right on Boone. These punks aren't going to give us anything, we have to grab it and squeeze until it screams.

Ha

 

[Onward]

All my friends' kids are in their late teens or early 20s, and I have a lot of contact with them and their friends. I don't think any of them believes that my reality intersects theirs in any way. I'd hold it against them, except that I remember feeling the same way when I was 20.

My wife says, if you are over 50 you are invisible to most people under thirty.

Maybe not invisible, but woefully clueless.

 

[chinaco]

Those punks, that attitude will catch up with them.... they will eventually turn into us... that'll show 'em how little they know!


One thing most older folks can truthfully say (with all the dementia going around) - I forgot more than you know about it!

 

[RonBoyd]

I forgot more than you know about it!

Great quote! One that I will steal.

 

[travelover]

All I really care about is that they stay the he11 off my lawn.

 

[FUEGO]

All I really care about is that they stay the he11 off my lawn.

As a recently departed member of the 20-something club, I can now say "And don't leave your damn Monster Amp Bull energy drink cans on my lawn either!!"

 

[walkinwood]

Twenty somethings? I haven't noticed any.

 

[Emeritus]

Perhaps it's the law but as a Judge's clerk when I was 25 I was astounded by the depth of his experience and understanding of the core issues of cases. All of my mentors were at least 50, and I received endless patient instruction on law and career. I taught law in London at the age of 27 with one of the most famous federal judges in my field and we used to argue the law on cannons at the tower of London. I sit with my best and brightest engineering students and try to do the same.

Sure my two daughters and their husbands will give me the 20 something eye roll, but never about anything important.

 

[ziggy29]

I think we just notice it more when we age because we become more and more unlike them. I don't think young'uns are that much different than when I was in my 20s.

One thing I do think the older folks should keep in mind is that they haven't exactly earned the trust of the younger generations when it comes to the stewardship of the nation's economic future so future generations may have the same chance to prosper as the older folks got. So it's not like the older generations should act like they've earned the respect for their experience and wisdom in all cases.

 

[Onward]

they haven't exactly earned the trust of the younger generations when it comes to the stewardship of the nation's economic future so future generations may have the same chance to prosper as the older folks got. So it's not like the older generations should act like they've earned the respect for their experience and wisdom in all cases.

Good point. At 20 I was thinking more micro than macro, but with the same result. I was thinking, "Look at all these 40-yr olds. Look at the lives they're leading: trudging off every day to jobs they obviously hate, then fighting traffic every night to get home to even more anxiety. They've completely screwed up. Why in the world would I ever take advice from them?"

 

[HFWR]

Good point. At 20 I was thinking more micro than macro, but with the same result. I was thinking, "Look at all these 40-yr olds. Look at the lives they're leading: trudging off every day to jobs they obviously hate, then fighting traffic every night to get home to even more anxiety. They've completely screwed up. Why in the world would I ever take advice from them?"

I was never able to turn listening to music while getting high into a paying position...

 

[MasterBlaster]

The older I get the better I was...

 

[haha]

I was thinking, "Look at all these 40-yr olds. Look at the lives they're leading: trudging off every day to jobs they obviously hate, then fighting traffic every night to get home to even more anxiety. They've completely screwed up. Why in the world would I ever take advice from them?"

Yep, and we should have hung on to that singularly valuable insight.

 

[Onward]

I was never able to turn listening to music while getting high into a paying position...

Welcome to the machine.

Yep, and we should have hung on to that singularly valuable insight.

Well, I did hang onto it, and when I got to 40 I was free, broke, and miserable. So there has to be some middle ground, or some brilliant alternative. What it is, I have no idea.

 

[Texas Proud]

I don't have that much interaction with 20 somethings... but the ones that I do are in my family... and all seem to be very respectful... most will listen to what you have to say... sometimes they even do what you suggest...

I will also say that the few friends of theirs seemed to be the same way...



Interesting story my sister told me... they were doing some charity work for the school... only a couple of guys showed up along with her son.. one was a punk guy with the metal all over and his pants down to.... my sister told hims 'pull up your pants'.. he did... at the end of the day she thanked him for all his hard work etc. etc. After he left one of the other adults made a negative comment about him, mostly because of his looks.. My sister said 'he pulled up his pants when I asked and he was HERE, you can not say that about all the other students who did not show up'....

Some of these kids have been brought up very well... and I do not mind them rolling their eyes every once in awhile... because I do the same to some of the things they do....

If they are disrespectful... that is a whole new ballgame...

 

[WM]

I was with a friend of mine recently giving a presentation about some community activism we're involved with, and afterward one of the 20-something audience members approached my friend and said how impressed she was with all the work my friend does "at her age," which is all of 50!

My friend responded politely and we laughed about it later, but it was certainly instructive as to how she was perceived.

 

[Amethyst]

I think how you treat people of any age - at any age of yours - is down to how you were brought up. If young people are ruder and more dismissive now, it is because people my age didn't teach them better manners.

Amethyst

 

[Nords]

It's interesting that we'd blame the lack of respect toward our age as a symptom of youth & inexperience.

What if it's not their fault? What if it doesn't have anything to do with age? What if they're regarding us with a lack of respect because they can perceive that we're behaving like jerks, or because we've been resting on our, uhm, laurels, and haven't done anything to earn their respect? It's a two-way street, and how have we been treating them? What have we done for them lately?

I also know that I can kick the asses of most 20-somethings at our taekwondo dojang, but it's because I'm usually bigger and always sneakier. That's a different type of earned respect.

I was never able to turn listening to music while getting high into a paying position...

Thank goodness for the recording industry!

 

[Texas Proud]

I also know that I can kick the asses of most 20-somethings at our taekwondo dojang, but it's because I'm usually bigger and always sneakier. That's a different type of earned respect.

LOL... I remember my BIL saying something similar.. he said his son was bigger and stronger, but he (BIL) had more experience and (as you say) sneakier...

 

[FinanceDude]

Favorite quote of the week. An older dad was talking with me when his HS son started chiming in. We were talking about the sports we participated in HS "back in the day", and his son kept reminding his dad that he was now faster, stronger, etc, than his old man. The kid is a pretty good athlete but has not achieved any level of success yet, although you would never guess it from his bravado. His dad's matter-of-fact reply?

"Better to be a HAS-BEEN than a NEVER-WAS"!!!

 

[MasterBlaster]

The More things Change the More They Stay the Same

remember this oft quoted quip -

"Don't trust anyone over 30" - Jerry Rubin

 

[easysurfer]

Funny how life changes. When I was a kid, I remember to old folks chasing us away for acting like kids. Now we do the chasing..."those kids, what's this world coming to?"

 

[Lsbcal]

I've reminded our twenty something DS that he shouldn't get hung up on the generational blame game. He'll be set up pretty nicely once we croak.

I don't think any individual should try to take credit or feel guilty for some group others perceive them to be part of. I avoid a lot of guilt trips that way myself.

 

[haha]

I actually very strongly respect 20 somethings. I know quite a few through my kids, and they are excellent, hard working and interesting people. I am close to one couple who are still in their 20s who lived across the hall from me, they make more sense than I made at 30 even, and often enough they make more sense than I make now.

I get to dance with lovely 20 something women. They are wonderful in every way- the respect goes both ways if you can dance, and if the guy is not trying to cop feels. Which I have never done and if I ever start I will figure that I've got Alzheimers and go get some suicide pills.

Ha