That too. I remember my father was fanatical and crazy obsessed about me going to college as a kid. He was of the silent generation and at that time going to college actually meant something . It was as if he was perpetually trapped in the 40s-50s and didn't understand the shit going on during my teenage years. He was so obsessed with me going to college even if I didn't know what I wanted to do that he simply could not fathom any other possibility. He simply didn't understand that there were other alternatives and many parents don't. All parents have rose colored lenses thinking their kids are genesis and will be the next rocket scientist or will cure cancer.
I was told I had to go to college. Didn't matter that I had no idea what I wanted to do. I was so clueless I didn't even really understand how the loans worked. It didn't really dawn on me that I owed tens of thousands of dollars until after I dropped out because it turns out you get shit grades when you don't really care about what you're doing. Basically started life in the red with nothing to show for it. Whenever I bring it up I'm told the whole thing was my idea.
Didn't matter that I had no idea what I wanted to do. I was so clueless I didn't even really understand how the loans worked.
To make it worse for me...I specifically told all the adults in my life that I wanted to be productive and work in a factory full time until I knew what I wanted to do beyond that. Apparently that was horrible to them. Can you even fathom that? Being horrified that a young man wanted to work his ass off and plan for his future? No, to them, anything less than going to college immediately after high school meant I was a failure.
Those same people actually told me they couldn't figure out why I didn't just get a job after I had my degree when I would go to every factory and they would all tell me I was "over qualified". Didn't matter there weren't any jobs for the degree I had within a hundred miles of my area. And I actually held two jobs in my field while going to school and graduated in 2 1/2 years...laziness wasn't the issue.
The thing that really chaps my ass after all of that, is that my life is really, and never has been, my life since then. I NEVER would have done what I did if left to my own devices, and thus I never would have had the 20s I ended up having. I know I'm not the only person my age in that boat.
Whenever I bring it up I'm told the whole thing was my idea.
I didn't catch the last sentence when I first read this. In my case, ultimately my parents ended up both crying in front of me and told me I was hurting them by not going to college right after high school, so I finally said "Ok, I guess I'll go...?" When it became obvious how that decision fucked me over they told me "Well, you agreed with us and we all decided it together." As fucked up as that is, I ONLY gave in to that because I thought, as stupid as it is, I'll just get a job after college and take it from there.
But wait, there's more...If you would have told me that getting that stupid degree would be the very thing that prevented me from getting a job I would have physically fought them to not go. The closest I've ever got to an admission of them fucking up was when they finally said "Well, I guess you should have stood up to us more" Like...how the fuck does it even occur to you to say something like that...?
The amount and level of rage I've felt over the past 10 years has actually had a transformative effect on my soul. That generation made us conform to a system that fucked us over, and when we had to deal with the shitty reality of having done that, they tried to gaslight us into taking the guilt up our own assholes because heaven forbid THEY ever have to deal with feelings of guilt, remorse, and general accountability...
Sounds like we had similar experiences. It really is infuriating. I try not to think about it too much. They wonder why I don't ever talk to them but then when I try and explain why they don't want to hear it. Whatever.
Had a grandpa recently pass away and I think I cared more than he did. He was retired, just sat around doing nothing all day. Never seemed to care how his own family was faring through life. Just up and died one day without telling anybody he was sick. Didn't pass on any wisdom to anybody, didn't leave anything behind. I don't get it
I don't think your theory about using generations against each other is insane. They seem really determined to keep millennials out of politics.
Exactly. Many of us would be better off in a trade or some other type of training that would actually provide REAL jobs.
would actually provide REAL jobs.
For illegals. All jobs are only a GOP/DNC "bipartisan" visa deal away from being denied to Whitey.
It was as if he was perpetually trapped in the 40s-50s and didn't understand the shit going on during my teenage years. He was so obsessed with me going to college even if I didn't know what I wanted to do that he simply could not fathom any other possibility.
I was 18 in 2008 when my parents were exactly the same. Really fucked up my life when it turned out there are no jobs that say "College degree required" Fuck...if you want to be a manager at a hotel you specifically need a "hospitality management" degree now.
It was as if he was perpetually trapped in the 40s-50s
Is it not obvious now that we have 1 to 2 generations now that are this way to the point of mass, generation-wide clinical mental illness?
I'm 31 now and I'm finally old enough to be looking at the 18/19 year olds I work with as "the kids" and I actually start to get emotional when I consider EVER abandoning their generation the way mine was. It's unfathomable to me.
The boomers and silents behaved like jews in regards to materialism. They only cared about their money instead of their race. They had their comforts and a time where things were okay. We are realizing now that things are in the shitter and we didn't have the lives that our families had.
It would be one thing, if what you said just happened in and of itself, it's an entirely different level of fucked up when they try to pretend it didn't happen while staring it in the face....it's YET ANOTHER entirely different level of fucked up when they, on top of that, blame and laugh at the young people forced to try to make ends meet in that situation.
An entire generation of literal clinical narcissists...?
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