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In all my circles of movement, I probably know a hand full of people who are within five years of my age -- over and under. None of them live in the same county as me. And they are pretty much at the edge of my friendship circle.
Closer to home, my nearest in age is slightly more than ten years my junior. In my family, I am slightly more than 20 years older than the next oldest.
Usually, this doesn't bother me. But for some reason, I am suddenly struck with a bit of loneliness that probably doesn't have anything to do with age except in my own head.
Sigh. Maybe it's all the coffee at midnight.
Closer to home, my nearest in age is slightly more than ten years my junior. In my family, I am slightly more than 20 years older than the next oldest.
Usually, this doesn't bother me. But for some reason, I am suddenly struck with a bit of loneliness that probably doesn't have anything to do with age except in my own head.
Sigh. Maybe it's all the coffee at midnight.
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you're plenty interesting to us young folk... and while i might not have the disparity you do, i have an inkling of how you may feel...
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I would love to compare rants about -ists and -isms. I think they are all forms of dominator model maintenance. The forced heirarchy of social structure.
Whee. A rant off!
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"at stage x on developmental thread y which I am currently working out the details of"
Which means it changes from moment to moment. In this crowd I can usually find someone, regardles of what I'm currently working on.
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I have a bias against my generation, I guess. That's it. I have a story that they have sold out. Still, I don't seem to have much in common with folks my age. They are stodgy and unwilling to risk anything.
The ones I know are living like a bohemian, that's for sure.
But this vague feeling of loneliness has more to do with my story about how I am seen by people 20 or more years my junior. I'm too close to their parents and possibly grandparents age to be seen without that particular filter popping into place for them.
The good news is that I tend to hang out with people who watch out for their filters, but our life-long biases are stealthy and affect the way we view the world in unexpected ways.
Knowing that the filters are firmly in place leaves me feeling apart on a few fundamental levels, I guess.
What's worse, I have the other half of that filter, too. When one of the late teens is having a pretty serious emotional upset, I suddenly turn into a mom. Not to be judgemental, but just to make the hurt go away. And it's definitly a feeling I associate with being a parent.
I don't want to be parent to my friends. I want to be a philosophical peer.
Well, the feeling only shows up once awhile. I simply change the channel on my internal radio and play a different tune. (see my love thread. :)
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"
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I may be completely wrong in my perception. Or I might be right but for different motives.
As a side I think the word "maturity" is a bit dangerous. It is sometimes used in place of widsom gained through experience which is a reasonably good definition. But it is also used to explain and justify begin stodgy and inflexible.
As far as experiences lived through, I think that is a red herring argument mostly thrust on the world by rebelous youth and disapproving adults.
Heartbreak is heartbreak. The thrill of accomplishment is the same at any age. Falling in love is the same. Some differences show up and different aspects of life have different importance, but basically someone past the age of 14 is dealing with all the same emotional things as someone 50.
Circumstances change, but dealing and coping is fixed pretty strongly by then. Only one more major development point in the early 20s and thats it.
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I am miles apart from my generation as a whole. The 45-60 year-old-group strongly supports the war on terrorism, I think it's McCarthyism again. That same group gives George W. Bush high marks for job performance, I think the man is a dangerous right-wing lunatic. Get the picture?
I think all forms of consensual sex is a good thing. I strongly oppose all so-called blue laws. I think our economic system is disgusting. Trading the usfffering of millions for the jobs of hundreds is a very, very bad trade.
The problem is, I have romantic notion that folks in the 15-30 group support all the things I do. Thing is, it isn't true. It's a pretty conservative demigraphic!
See, told you the whole thing was in my head!
I fit best in the fringe groups. The good and bad of that is that it is mostly populated with folks under 30 -- usually 23ll under 30.
It isn't maturity that changes the young, it's the warped pressure by society to be "productive" in an acceptable way.
Slowly selling out to fit a job-required image, for instance. Being seduced by the almight advertising machine. Sigh.
And somewhere lurking under all this is a small desire of mine to keep another generation from that kind of maturity. sigh again.