Wednesday, May 23, 2012

A conversation between colleagues


Me and a fellow Catholic writer:

Me: Ever have one of those days when you think everyone else is doing better than you are?

Her: Ever have one of those days where you wake up and go to the bathroom?

This is someone with whom a few months ago, I had a conversation about how no one in our generation ever feels like a qualified grown-up. The whole concept of grown-uphood, the state of knowing what the hell you're doing most of the time, is extinct. We Gen-Xers and down, were all raised by people who thought that never growing up was their highest aspiration. (Or in some cases, were not raised at all by anyone.) Is it any wonder few of us are getting married before 30, and a lot of us are not getting married at all?

Hands up everyone out there who feels like they just don't ever know what the hell they're doing, what their life is supposed to be for, or how to do what is expected.



~

5 comments:

Seraphic said...

Well, I can't do that, but I am relatively sure that if I had drunk all the Kool-aid I was supposed to drink, I'd be pulling down $40-50 K to start at Berkeley or San Francisco. On the other hand, my social life is fantastic and I don't have to even pretend to be polite to those who betray the Catholic faith over and over again.

BillyHW said...

Can I beat her up, Hilary?

Seraphic said...

Yeah, you just try, buddy-boy.

Hilary Jane Margaret White said...

Don't make me come back there.

I'll turn this blog around right now and we can all go home.

theobromophile said...

Perennial education. "Don't get married before you're thirty, or you'll end up divorced." Homes too expensive to purchase. The idea that one can graduate with an advanced degree and be expected to work for free. Too much debt to live outside of your parents' home.

If someone could explain to me exactly what about modern Western twenty-something life that lends itself to maturity and adulthood, I would love to know.

Actually, it goes beyond the twenties. I went on a sort-of date with a 47-year-old man who said that he would like to have kids "someday," as if it's totally normal for men in their fifties to up and decide to produce and raise offspring. Yeah, I know that it's biologically possible, but it's also biologically possible for people of any age to act like children, which is no excuse for doing so.