Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Too Young, Too Dumb

via weheartit

Have you stumbled upon the phrase 'age is no barrier'? It sounds almost lovingly accepting and like that of an applicable doctrine to a desirable Utopian society. Sadly, like many other common phrases, it simply is false. Age is no barrier? Honestly? Perhaps it should be old age is no barrier, because that's when people seem fond of both employing and justifying it, rather than correlating with their younger peers.

I know and I'll tell you this now, unless you're an adult in this world, a lot of individuals will not care about what you have to say. That sounds harsh. Yet unfortunately I have to face people daily who believe that because of my youth, I should be seen and not heard. Perhaps it also has to do with my sex, because a sector of society seems to find it amusing that I am an opinionated young female. Yes, I have views on certain issues like the Chinese One Child Policy and animal cruelty. I care, isn't that amazing? In contemporary times, there are young people who ponder upon such affairs and form valid opinions. Jesus Christ Superstar, what have I been smoking? Obviously this is a result of my being in a state where I am not able to think normally. Such is the youth of today, as they say.

I know what you're thinking. Yes, I know you gain wisdom as you grow older and as you gradually gather your shit. That's undeniable and I'm down for respecting your elders. However, I find it endlessly aggravating that too often it's assumed that my intelligence must lay in coherence with my age. It is as if my IQ must be equivalent to the number of years I have existed until I'm 25. When there have been numerous self made young people throughout history such as Joan of Arc, Mary Shelley and Mozart, why is this still presumed? Jesus was only 12 when he presented his wisdom within the temple in Jerusalem and more recently, Mark Zuckerberg commercialised Facebook at the age of 19. All kinds of wonders are able to be accomplished by youth.

Contrarily, there is one common saying that I do agree with. If you tell someone something enough times, they'll start to believe it. That is, if you continue to tell Generation Y that they will never achieve anything noteworthy within their lifetime, they will eventually start to follow your degrading prophecy. Why? Because you failed as an older mentor. Because shit just got real for us and we didn't know how to approach it headstrong. Because obviously we're too young and too dumb.

There are many imbeciles in my generation; that my dear reader is irrefutable. We also do idiotic things in our youth, but that shouldn't be an excuse. I do not know if you are aware of this though, there are absolute cretins within your age group as well. Age should not be a barrier (not in this manner), yet it is. Now I'm not going to demand that you follow Whitney Houston's ghostly footsteps and proclaim that children are the future. No, what I want is for this unsightly assumption to stop. Stop assuming that all young individuals are brainless, please. If only for the sake of the clever ones out there, please just stop. 

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