Generations

Each and every generation works differently. Our parents' generation was a generation that had to work hard to get anything that they wanted. As a child, if they wanted to go play baseball or something, they had to get on their feet and get a group together. However, they were used to working hard. Similarly, in college, many of our parents had to hold a job on the side to simply stay in college. There wasn't an option.

Our generation, however, is a generation that gets what they want. As a child, I grew up playing soccer and baseball and whatnot. My parents drove me to soccer practice and picked me up afterwards. There wasn't much effort on my behalf. All I had to do was be awake, put some clothes on, and walk out of the house and sit down in the car. In college, it's not really a necessity that I have a job, rather it's something that I'd like to hold onto to have that extra spending money. I know it's not necessarily the same for everyone, but as a general statement, I think it's true that we have it better off than our parents.

As a result, this influences the way we think. Yes, we may be hard-working - just like our parents. We may be just as ambitious, but one thing I lack is patience. I'm someone that wants to see tangible results. Immediate results that come as fruit from our labor. Thus, when I start a big project, it's just so easy for me to give up when things get difficult. I will have this giant dream to drastically change the world, but when troubles come my way, it's difficult for me to carry on. It's something that I believe is a shortcoming in me. I'm a dreamer, an idealist that dreams of utopia and saving the world. Unfortunately, all these dreams are too short-lived to be anything meaningful. Hopefully, however, I can dream long enough to make some of them come to life.

On Style

"it is virtually impossible for a man to dress well if he does not select his own clothing. With few exceptions, sophisticated dressers - be they men or women - rarely trust their wardrobe choices to a second party, no matter how respected or beloved that person might be. The man who aspires to cultivate a feel for stylish neckwear must be willing to immerse himself in the trial-and error process of its screening selection. A man can learn as much from a failed purchase - the tie that looked so smart in the shop but now rarely escapes his closet - as he can from one he cannot stop wearing. Confidence comes from being able to make the right decision, not having it made for you." - Alan Flusser, Style & the Man

As I was reading this book, I found this quote to be something that goes beyond dressing yourself. Interesting, interesting... I suppose it takes, at the very least, a little bit of faith to gain confidence.

Being Content

The other week, I was sitting at a booth in a pizza parlor with a friend. As my friend was getting food, I ended up talking to another man sitting in the booth right next to me. He sat there, reading his Bible with one of those neon yellow shirts that people doing construction wear. He started talking to me about his job and what he did. It was truly fascinating. This man worked for a power company. For a living, he turned off the electricity in the homes of people who failed to pay their bills. He told me about how people would send letters to him out of anger and hatred. All in all, it seemed like his job would be exactly opposite of what most people would want to do. To have to deliver bad news to people was his job.

I can't imagine doing that job - just the nature of the job would make it difficult for me to do. This man was someone that I had met for just a few minutes and had huge amounts of respect for him. I wouldn't be able to do what he's done. Perhaps, dealing with people and pissing them off was what he wanted to do, but I really doubt it. Perhaps, he had this job out of necessity, since he couldn't find work elsewhere. It was amazing how he could tell me about his job and smile about it - not in a smug way, but in a very genuine way. I could tell he was content with what he had.

Youth

As a student, I know that I feel the pressure to find a good internship/job and not mess around as I have in just about every summer before this. Having committed to a job in the fall, I’m at school trying to make up for the time that will be lost in the fall. I’m filling my time with classes and work. At the same time, however, I feel like freedom has been lost. I’ve come to realize that there is no longer a period of time where I can just hang out and lay around without a purpose. Summer is gone.

What I’ve longed for has finally come, but it comes with a price. I used to think that adults had the most amazing lives. As a kid I looked up to them and adored that they could go wherever they wanted to on a whim and simply go. There was no age limit or anything holding them back, but now that I’ve become a quasi-adult I now realize that there are responsibilities that come along with this age.

The age that I used to loathe because of its lack of freedom has suddenly become so attractive, but it’s gone. I suppose the moral of my story is that we should appreciate what we have while we have it. This youth isn’t something that we should attempt to hurry away, rather we should accept it as a part of who we are. We all have time to grow old. Let’s live for the now, with our eyes on the future.