yes, that's me. and i was opinionated then, too.

i'm sorry, but i have a real hard time eking out pity for 40-year-olds crying ageism. and WHY, you ask? i'll tell you why. i'm 22 years old. i was born in 1978, just two years before 1980. to the vast majority of the population, i am incomprehensibly young and therefore totally incapable of any significant thoughts, ideas, or accomplishments. i don't think i know what it is to be taken seriously, as this is the oldest and maturest-looking i've ever been. people say things to me they oughtta be slapped silly for, most often statements beginning with, "when i was YOUR AGE..." (FUCK you, you doddering old fool! you were NEVER my age! NEVAH!) and "these young people today" (that's right...here we go with them mega-intelligent generalisations again) and of course, my personal favourite, "that's the thing about YOUR GENERATION" (okaaay....and what the bloody FECK is a GENERATION when you're not talking about family? i'm STILL not totally clear on that. where does one generation end and another begin? in my family, my sibs range from 14 to 36, and we're ALL technically one generation)
now, i wouldn't mind if all these comments were coming from my 97-year-old grandmother or someone else of her GENERATION, but i'm getting this horseshit from frickin' 30-year-olds! it's as if these fucking prats think they've got something on me just cos they were born 10 years earlier. jesus h christ! why don't you just say it like it is..."hey, listen man...i'm a fucking loser. but god DID put me on the earth a few years before he put you here so that MUST count for SOMETHING...?" GUESS WHAT, JERK-OFF? IT DOESN'T! so shut yer face.

now you can probably guess i'm one who likes to debate, but that's a pretty damned hard thing to do when every word you utter is met with patronising smiles, "knowing" glances between the "grown-ups", and stupid-assed write-off remarks like, "ah, when he's older, this'll all change". EXCUSE ME, SHITHEAD! says WHO? says YOU? is THIS your explanation for why i don't agree with your asinine ideas? cos i'm too young and stupid to comprehend your vast knowledge? pa-leeze! all the old people think you're a bloody moron as well, they just haven't the balls to tell you so. i've never been one to call the ideas of ANYONE, no matter how young, premature or immature, as some of my own beliefs, first expressed when i was far younger than this (you think YOUR life sucks? try being a 10-year-old with a few independent thoughts) that i was told should've changed ten times over by now HAVEN'T. life and experience don't as often CHANGE your opinions as simply produce MORE of them. (in fact, considering how i am NOW, i shudder to think what i'll be like at 50)
even when i was a kid and someone actually bothered to listen to me long enough to decide they liked my opinions, the responce was always the same..."he's so mature for his age" or "he's got very good ideas for someone so young". AGH! would you just tell me if you agree with me or not? if you think i've a good point, i'd like to hear it just like that. and if you think i'm an obnoxious, loud-assed prat, i want to hear that as well. i can take criticism. but for the love of CHRIST what has my age to do with ANY of it? good ideas for someone so young? that's just like saying someone throws well...for a girl. last time i checked, THAT was considered SEXIST and POLITICALLY INCORRECT and WRONG. so when are we going to make it politically incorrect to pick on the young? i'm guessing never. i mean, the old people ARE in the majority now. and they DO need someone to pick on. so i guess we're it.

all righty then...same subject, different angle. being in your teens and early 20s is total shite. you're basically not allowed to do ANYTHING. you no longer have the freedom to get away with mucking around like you did when you were younger, but having your own opinions, serious relationships, or rights of any kind is strictly prohibited. you are expected to go to uni and take it very, very seriously, or else get a good, sound job, which you must take very, very seriously, but still look to someone older and "wiser" for permission to do everything save shower and take a dump. you are no longer allowed to be supported monetarily by your parents, else the whole lot of you will be labelled in the worst possible way, but your parents still have the right...no, the RESPONSIBILITY...to publicly chastise you for saying or doing anything that might be offensive to the "grown-ups", else again, you all will be labelled in the worst way. (take it from my poor old dad. he has been roared at by more strangers for the "offensively casual" relationship he has with me and my younger siblings. but don't worry about him. you KNOW i had to get my attitude from SOMEWHERE.)

well...maybe i was raised wrong, but it's the way i plan to raise mine....if for no other reason than to irritate the "grown-ups". goddamn, i'm such a little brat. ;)