I'm writing a piece for a magazine and could really do with some opinions/thoughts etc etc
Basically I am writing about a "wasted youth" and whether you feel you have wasted your youth by not achieving things or feeling as though your youth was unfulfilled in any way. Perhaps your parents pressured you to aim high and you feel you never did? - your thoughts don't have to be personal, you could just have an opinion on whether youths these days ARE in fact wasting their lives away.
Also, I'd quite like an opinion on whether you think society has changed over time? Like Mozart wrote his first piece aged 5 (i think? - still need to research for my article!) and many emperors started ruling from a very young age....
Do you think that modern day youths are nothing in comparison to those in the past? Or do you think that this is because life has evolved and we are all achieving things in our own way?
Are achievements actually that important? What are achievements for youths? - happiness? intellect? fame?
All the things I suggested above are just guidelines of what I'm thinking of writing about, though any opinions/thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
As a little kid you believed in fairytales,
that fantasy of what your life would be: white dress; prince charming who would carry you away to a castle on a hill.
You closed your eyes and had complete and utter faith.
Eventually you grow up. One day you open your eyes and the fairy tale disappears.
But the thing is, it's hard to let go of that fairytale entirely because almost everyone has that smallest bit of hope, of faith,
that one day they will open their eyes and it will come true.
Perhaps your parents pressured you to aim high and you feel you never did?
Just wanted to pick out this as I feel it applies to me very well, from about year 9 onwards my parents pressured me to do really well in school, they always compared me to my brother as we went to the same schools so they expected me to be just as good. I would spend most of my time studying but in the end I still found the work hard and didn't do as well as I could have. But I feel I missed out a lot, while my friends would go out to parks, have sleepovers and go bowling e.t.c I would be at home revising for a test that really wasn't that important just because I felt so much pressure to do well.
On the other hand when I was much younger (7/8 ish) I could go out and walk to the end of my street to knock for my friends then stay out for hours at the park and stuff because my neighbour hood was pretty safe and everyone looked out for each other. However now people in my area wouldn't dare let their kids out by themselves, our area hasn't really changed but I think people are becoming more scared so I don't think young children today get as much freedom as I did when I was that age.
I have no idea if that's helped or not, i'm sorry if it didn't.
We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken
Just a thought, but surely one of the most important things for young people is to find out who we really are, and be comfortable with that.
Sure grades can be important (assuming what we want to do in life requires academic qualifications), but it is important to take our time growing up before its too late to learn and get away with making the mistakes we need to make in order to do so.
Maybe we cant all get straight As three years early, master several instruments at the age of 7, or take part in the olympics before we finish school!
What we can all do, is find something we enjoy and are good at, to be happy with who we are, find people we care about and trust to surround ourselves with.
Also although many things have changed since our grandparents were young say, there are just as many things that will never change: we all want freedom from pressure to be what people want us to be, to find happiness and a place we belong; and hell we want to get out and have fun, be young and see how far we can get away with bending the rules.
Not sure if thats much help really, but thanks for the opportunity to ponder and wax all philosophical good luck with the writing!
Free me.
One day we will all be free to fly into our own sunset
I always feel like I wasted my youth, (as in high school, I'm still young), simply because for most of it I was really messed up. So I would be really anti-social and just sit at home almost all the time rather than doing anything.
I can't even remember most of it through a mixture of substances and my brain just completely repressing the memories.
Although, I do understand that I'm being a little guilty of comparing my life to what the media says it should be. (You know, having fun with friends, dumb parties, crap like that).
I understand that it isn't going to be like most sources when they portray a happy high school life, but I also understand that it shouldn't have been quite as screwed.
I actually think that may be a large problem, a lot of folk might not even realise they are doing it and comparing their life to this happy image that they "should" be living.
And I would say that society has definitely changed.
Society now is incredibly, incredibly self-centered and all about money and physical property rather than about people.
This might sound silly, but it's as if some form of slight sociopathy or narcissism is being incorporated into everyone now, obviously not full sociopathy, but I hope you get what I'm meaning.
I would say that it isn't really the youths' fault that they are, "nothing in comparison to those in the past", I think it's apathy from various sources and overprotectiveness that isn't raising them to their full potential.
Of course, they aren't innocent, many are incredibly lazy because of the comfortable life that we can lead now. For example, what are they gonna pick, go outside and go hillwalking/hiking or sit inside playing games and talking to friends?
I think achievements are important, although they can be so, so easily crushed, for example, an achievement is set, but the child will get put down for something as stupid as their postcode.
I do think that achievements are set in the wrong areas though.
Celebrities are idolised to a disgusting level. The Heat advert always makes me feel very sickened and angry when it tells you a load of inane babble that you don't care about, "Celebrity X in a bikini, hahahaha", then it's slogan is, "Heat, makes life worth living." Oh really? Do these marketing pricks not even see how offensive that is to folk who actually don't see that life is worth living? (Put it this way, it takes an incredulous amount to offend me and it offends me).
If you want to talk about any of my post, feel free to PM me btw, I'll be happy to help.
"Tutto θ bello..." - "Everything is beautiful..."
Nicola to Matteo, La meglio gioventω
so, I think that one or two examples of children who've done well when children doesn't mean that society has changed in a bad way. Women can now achieve things, instead of being sold off for marriage at the age of 13 to spend a life of having babies, looking after babies and being cheated on. That's fairly cool.
I didn't achieve as much as I could've done, because I wasn't pushed enough. Both my school and my parents were fine with whatever I did (my school was painfully easy-going), and I was always told that it was fine what I did so long as I tried. It meant that I ended up getting Bs and Cs for A-level when I should have been able to get As and Bs - that's also partly as a result of my school being so keen to push everybody into uni that it didn't emphasise enough the fact that quality of university and reputation does matter.
I do agree with the above post, though, that celebrityism is quite horrible and too much of a focus - for some people, anyway.
I don't think you can really compare a few very privileged youths of yesteryear with the average youth of today. If you were an average child hundred years ago you would be going to work in the field, in a factory or down a mine or some other god-awful work. You weren't really educated either. Yes, they were doing something and not sitting playing on the PS3, but you can't say one is wasting their youth and the other isn't.
There are plenty of young people today who do amazing things. The girl who wanted to sail around the world by herself (I think her brother managed it), toddlers who have scaled all the Munros, ten year olds getting in to Oxford and Cambridge. The list goes on. There are also children who are young carers, who don't have the most 'normal' childhoods. Are they wasting their youth?
A lot of really good opportunities are there for children, in the form of groups and sports clubs, but these are not evenly distributed. If you live on a sink estate with poor parents, you are unlikely to have access to these.
thanks guys!!! these ideas are great!!! i'll give you a preview on the article when I come round to writing it!!!
keep the suggestions coming!
As a little kid you believed in fairytales,
that fantasy of what your life would be: white dress; prince charming who would carry you away to a castle on a hill.
You closed your eyes and had complete and utter faith.
Eventually you grow up. One day you open your eyes and the fairy tale disappears.
But the thing is, it's hard to let go of that fairytale entirely because almost everyone has that smallest bit of hope, of faith,
that one day they will open their eyes and it will come true.
I doubt that there's anyone who doesn't feel, in retrospect, that they should somehow have achieved more. But as long as you can say that you gave it a fair shot, then learn to live with yourself and all your insecurities (which we all have). I confess to still having nightmares about "failures" in the past. But in fact all those events which my conscience obviously keeps pricking me about are now water down the wadi and long past salvation.
Moral: Think ahead, plan ahead and get on with tomorrow.
Moral: Think ahead, plan ahead and get on with tomorrow.
---
There's a lot I didn't achieve early on due to things beyond my control but I didn't actively waste my youth. It's all experience at the end of the day and as Tony basically said; it's what you do with your future which really counts.
Stop thinking about what I want, what he wants, what your parents want. What do you want?
Whilst I do agree with your excellent choice in song :) I would have to disagree with this as being a bad thing -
Quote:
Originally Posted by hawker
the army has been going soft over the years and now people no longer look up to squaddies.
Well basically the UK is fcuked, we were sold out by our own queen to serve under the EU and as backward as it has now become the youth will be just as backwards. what other country can you get compensation for injuring yourself while committing a burglary?
It's not bad that people don't look up to troops necessarily. I personally have no pride in being British - I was born here and I will put my life on the line for the NHS, but I don't feel proud to be British. Those troops aren't fighting for me, they're fighting for the government and the US government - and to be completely honest, they aren't doing a very good job of it either. War is expensive and ineffective, and the fact that people are realising this and responding to this is not a bad thing.
And being a part of the EU really isn't bad either - it gives economic stability and global accountability, both of which are very positive things. And it allows for comparison, to show just how backward the education and welfare systems in the UK are.
But these are side points to the original article, sorry :) I just noticed them and wanted to say something...
Some rather unkind and unjustified things being said here about the Army. I strongly believe that today's Army shows just as much bravery and resolution as it did in WW2 or any other conflict we've been in since. Would you be prepared to patrol for months on end expecting Kalashnikov bullets and RPGs at any moment. And never knowing whether your next step would see your legs and testicles blown off by some IED, even if it didn't kill you.
What sort of fat happy life are you actually living yourself? What have you ever done for your country, rather than just sit back and criticise? Do please tell us as explicitly as your perhaps limited command of English permits!
Our blokes in Afghanistan are not of course all heroes. They're ordinary men bound together by comradeship and a belief that what they're doing is right. And by the nature of their job they're a hell of a lot braver than geeks/wimps sitting in front of a computer in the safety of UK!
the army has been going soft over the years and now people no longer look up to squaddies.
Well basically the UK is fcuked, we were sold out by our own queen to serve under the EU and as backward as it has now become the youth will be just as backwards. what other country can you get compensation for injuring yourself while committing a burglary?
There is no pride, respect for elders, no police discretion, no community spirit and all i see now is mass produced individuality.
A beautiful woman introduced me to a song which says a lot too....
Its called "get better" by scroobius pip.
Anyhoo my rant over...i could go on for days
I don't think that its as bad as you think it is. And I certainly don't agree with you about the army going 'soft'. Have you seen the number of people seriously injured? Never mind that the death toll has also increased. If you're going to critisise someone then blame the Government for sending our troops into Afghanistan on a flimsy pretence.
Any way back to the original post. I think that our attitude towards the youth has dramatically changed over time. Unlike years gone by, these days it is widely believed that every child should have the opportunity to a bright future. Obviously it is not always well implemented and not everyone will gain adequate resources to further advance themselves. But school is compulsory and we are all entitled to free education up until the age of 19. Clearly, the priviledged classes are more likely to do better academically however those who lack the money do have the resources avaliable to advance themselves. And that is something that has changed significantly over the years.
I have to say that, these days, we seem to spend endless time going round in circles until we disappear up our own backsides.
Get on with life, with the hand you've been dealt (however shitty) and make the best you can of your particular circumstances. There's no magic fairy suddenly going to come and rescue you. We all have to make our own way.
Channel 4 did a kind of documentary series quite recently about "child geniuses"... can't quite remember what it was called, though. Maybe you could try to look that up? Would be good as an example to challenge the idea that prodigies like Mozart no longer come to existence due to wasting youth. BBC 3 also have a program called the World's Strictest Parents. You could use this to show how there are parents out there who are doing their best to raise their children in the best way they can, and you could discuss the idea that British children don't have the same sort of motivation from their parents. BBC ran a documentary series called Child of Our Time (or something along those lines) where they followed children for a few years and returned every few months to show how they were progressing... perhaps you could look at that and see how their circumstances are different and whether there's a correlation between their success and their upbringing or something... Idk.
I know this is really TV-based but it's all that I know ha.
Forget your perfect offering
There's a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in
Leonard Cohen
Some rather unkind and unjustified things being said here about the Army. I strongly believe that today's Army shows just as much bravery and resolution as it did in WW2 or any other conflict we've been in since. Would you be prepared to patrol for months on end expecting Kalashnikov bullets and RPGs at any moment. And never knowing whether your next step would see your legs and testicles blown off by some IED, even if it didn't kill you.
What sort of fat happy life are you actually living yourself? What have you ever done for your country, rather than just sit back and criticise? Do please tell us as explicitly as your perhaps limited command of English permits!
Our blokes in Afghanistan are not of course all heroes. They're ordinary men bound together by comradeship and a belief that what they're doing is right. And by the nature of their job they're a hell of a lot braver than geeks/wimps sitting in front of a computer in the safety of UK!
Tony (bristling a bit!)
I know, I do have fairly anti-war views and these do come across quite against the army. Apologies on that front, but I do stand by what I say. The truth is, no I wouldn't be prepared to be on patrol for months on end because I would take a moral stance against the war and actively refuse to be in it.
And I haven't done much because, as I possibly said before?, I don't feel patriotic. I have no loyalty for the UK - I was born here and raised here, but that doesn't mean that I owe my life to the country or anything like that. By some random chance I happened to be born in a place, and - despite the fact that I disagree with the politics of it all - that means I should die for 'my' country? I'd rather not.
The guys in Afghan are, undoubtedly, in a worse position than me. But not everybody does it because they believe in the war or in supporting their country; if there's only one job going, you'll take it regardless of risk, and the army is one of the biggest employers of NEETS. But I would like to think that they were braver than me. That doesn't make what they're doing right or justified in that alone. And I simply do not believe that what they're - not personally, but collectively - doing out there is right, so I respectfully disagree with the notion that they are somehow better than me because they are at war.
I think I should clarify too, my main disagreement is with the collective 'army' rather than individual 'troops'.
And please, Tony, don't resort to insults. I know my comments got you worked up, and I am sorry about that, but it just undermines your argument, which is sad when there are justified reasons for your thinking as you do - just as I have my reasons to think as I do. I'd like to think that you'd respect that, even if you do disagree. This isn't something I've decided based on a whim, this is something that I've considered and weighed up and came to this conclusion, and I think that alone should be respected (but I'm a big believer in having to know the reasons why you think something, rather than just 'because you do').
And apologies to everybody for going off-topic.
Last edited by Dreaming. : 24-06-2010 at 12:55 PM.
good luck with the writing!
