Читать книгу 20 Something Manifesto - Christine Hassler - Страница 25

I come from a generation where our parents told us that the world was at our feet, that we could do and be anything we wanted to be, but they forget to mention that there is more to life than that: the rest of the world.

My generation believes that it is invincible. Somewhere along the way we lost focus of the big picture and only focused on being and doing what we want, without worrying about the consequences. Invincible — incapable of being conquered, defeated, or subdued. We will get what we want and be who we want without anyone or anything defeating us. But obviously that is not real life; no one is invincible or immune to everything, yet we lead reckless and careless lives thinking that we are. We drink too much, drive too fast, have unprotected sex with numerous partners, lose touch with old friends in hopes of finding better ones, all the while thinking that when it comes to the consequences “that can’t happen to me.”

And regardless of what we see in the news every day (car accidents, alcohol poisoning, teen pregnancies and abortions, the rise in sexually transmitted diseases), we still continue to think, “It can’t happen to me. It won’t happen to me.” We look at those people and think that we are better and that things like that don’t happen to people like us. Until it does. Until you get the phone call bringing bad news of someone you care about . . . or until it is too late and someone is making that phone call about you.

In my experience, college and the few years after it seems to be the place where most of my generation lives in this bubble of “invincibility.” I know I did. My college years were filled with partying all night long and running around all day. Sleep didn’t matter. I will never forget my moment of “defeat” when I woke up in a hospital after a night of partying. In that moment, I suddenly realized that I was not invincible. I would be lying if I said that I did not, in some ways, go back to my old lifestyle. I still partied a lot and slept very little, but I did become more aware of what I was doing to myself. Aware of the fact that I am not invincible. But what happens after you realize you are not invincible? Eventually, twenty-something life will kick in again and the behaviors that brought us defeat will be pushed to a dark corner in our mind. Suddenly, we are invincible again . . . claiming to have learned . . . and go back to leading our lives with reckless abandon.

Is this way of life something that we ever grow out of? I mean right now we are in our carefree twenties. When we hit thirty years old, will we grow up? Will we face the fact that no one is invincible to life, or will we continue in our wild ways, not worrying about how it will affect those we love?