Lessons in Humility
Our generation is extremely arrogant.
Or maybe it's just me.
You grow up with this sense of entitlement.
I'll conquer the world!
I'll be famous!
I'll be PRESIDENT!
And you go to school. And you get your degree. And you get out there and suddenly, you're alone. There's no one holding your hand. But that only serves to strengthen your resolve to succeed. To win. To be perfect. But only if it doesn't compromise the enormous wall of pride and idealism you've bulit up around yourself.
And suddenly you're 29 and you're still answering phones because somewhere along the way, you might have pissed off the wrong people, decided what you were doing didn't really matter in the long run becasue one day YOU were going to be great... but fuck them right? You know who you are and what you stand for and FUCK THEM for being callow.
But then, one day. Reality. You need to eat. You need a home. And there ain't no husband around the corner to do it for you and your parents have had about enough of your overdeveloped idealism. It's time to play the role of a lifetime.
And you look around you and realize that other people are doing it. But they're doing it better and you're still answering phones with a degree that your parents dropped 20 grand a year on. And you are suddenly looking at Reality, Adulthood, and Life square in the face and truly fear looking back on your life and realizing you did nothing of real value.
And that things aren't going to be handed to you and the only thing you're entitled to is that which you work for.
And you find that you have to be ready to start.
Or maybe it's just me.
You grow up with this sense of entitlement.
I'll conquer the world!
I'll be famous!
I'll be PRESIDENT!
And you go to school. And you get your degree. And you get out there and suddenly, you're alone. There's no one holding your hand. But that only serves to strengthen your resolve to succeed. To win. To be perfect. But only if it doesn't compromise the enormous wall of pride and idealism you've bulit up around yourself.
And suddenly you're 29 and you're still answering phones because somewhere along the way, you might have pissed off the wrong people, decided what you were doing didn't really matter in the long run becasue one day YOU were going to be great... but fuck them right? You know who you are and what you stand for and FUCK THEM for being callow.
But then, one day. Reality. You need to eat. You need a home. And there ain't no husband around the corner to do it for you and your parents have had about enough of your overdeveloped idealism. It's time to play the role of a lifetime.
And you look around you and realize that other people are doing it. But they're doing it better and you're still answering phones with a degree that your parents dropped 20 grand a year on. And you are suddenly looking at Reality, Adulthood, and Life square in the face and truly fear looking back on your life and realizing you did nothing of real value.
And that things aren't going to be handed to you and the only thing you're entitled to is that which you work for.
And you find that you have to be ready to start.
posted by LC Greenwood at 10:55 AM
1 Comments:
Preaching to the choir here!
Honestly, though - from what I know of you, you have the potential to do very well and certainly have earned the right to get some respect (in the non-Aretha sense). Don't let reality get you down, keep your hope that the future will bring greater things.
And gauging success by other's life choices is pointless - most of the people I work with right now are just a little older than I and incredibly wealthy and "successful", but their lives are nothing that I would aspire to attain. Aim for the important things - world domination is horribly overrated anyways.
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