Pondering
I have ben prondering a question for a while now...I just met a guy on FB that just lost his 20 year old son...I really don't know how, maybe drug OD..due to he found him in his bed..He had just moved to his dad's to try to start his life again..sad isn't it at 20..oh how I wish these kids didn't think life is so hard at such a young age..Did I, I wonder..
By the time I was 20, I had 2 children and married for 4 years...I don't know that I felt I had life bad as it seems kids do today...I think of how many times I see on Face Book how my grand daughter Whitney will write how horrible life is is just 21...I just wonder what makes it so hard for them...It seems that they want to live in the fast lane and it can't go fast enough...When did this start...Why do so many seem so unhappy with what they have...My grandchildren have about anything they want..Whitney is always gotten whatever...and just seems she wants more..no matter what she gets she wants more.
Today she wrote she is getting a new bike..now I know she is not talking agout the kind of bike we used to ride...she has gone through a four wheeler...a truck..several cars since she got old enough to drive...What are they searching for I wonder...
She wrote a statement like Live fast...die faster..I responded with Live to live longer..
I really don't understand kids of today...what is missing in their lives...I know Whitney had a baby at 17 cause she said she just wanted to have one thing that loved her totally...yet her family loves her dearly...She is beautiful..she has been loved by both her parents, step-parents and both families..yet she still searches for something to make her happy....
It is almost like they are constantly looking for material things, and yet the more they get the less happy they are...searching always seems to be searching for something out that...yet not accepting all the love that is right there in front of them...their family...
Funny, this is not what I have been pondering about..but this is what the fingers...the mind wrote...why I do not know...but as I do write this I wish so much that the kids of our times now just understood...Life just is not as hard and difficult as they seem to make it...that a relationship may break up but it is not that life can't go on...that there is a big world out there to grasp...to enjoy...and to just relax and see the beauty around them..that it does not take "things" to bring happiness...It takes being happy within themselves...finding happiness not on the outside but that it comes from the love of what they have...what they can give...and the beauty they are..the love that is right here in front of them...
I hope and pray that my grandchildren..all the unhappy of the world soon will kow that they have so much...they are so much and they are loved so much.
Just like my grand daughter Whiteny..she was within hours of not een being brought into this world...hours away from her mom having an abortion..and at the last minute changed her mind with encouragement of Whitney's dad and me, her grandma...she was very much wanted even by her mom...
Why I now ponder as I write this...is there so much unhappiness the children of today feel...
I hope that something changes..that all the material things of the world will not bring happiness....Let's hope and pray they realize that happiness comes within....
By the time I was 20, I had 2 children and married for 4 years...I don't know that I felt I had life bad as it seems kids do today...I think of how many times I see on Face Book how my grand daughter Whitney will write how horrible life is is just 21...I just wonder what makes it so hard for them...It seems that they want to live in the fast lane and it can't go fast enough...When did this start...Why do so many seem so unhappy with what they have...My grandchildren have about anything they want..Whitney is always gotten whatever...and just seems she wants more..no matter what she gets she wants more.
Today she wrote she is getting a new bike..now I know she is not talking agout the kind of bike we used to ride...she has gone through a four wheeler...a truck..several cars since she got old enough to drive...What are they searching for I wonder...
She wrote a statement like Live fast...die faster..I responded with Live to live longer..
I really don't understand kids of today...what is missing in their lives...I know Whitney had a baby at 17 cause she said she just wanted to have one thing that loved her totally...yet her family loves her dearly...She is beautiful..she has been loved by both her parents, step-parents and both families..yet she still searches for something to make her happy....
It is almost like they are constantly looking for material things, and yet the more they get the less happy they are...searching always seems to be searching for something out that...yet not accepting all the love that is right there in front of them...their family...
Funny, this is not what I have been pondering about..but this is what the fingers...the mind wrote...why I do not know...but as I do write this I wish so much that the kids of our times now just understood...Life just is not as hard and difficult as they seem to make it...that a relationship may break up but it is not that life can't go on...that there is a big world out there to grasp...to enjoy...and to just relax and see the beauty around them..that it does not take "things" to bring happiness...It takes being happy within themselves...finding happiness not on the outside but that it comes from the love of what they have...what they can give...and the beauty they are..the love that is right here in front of them...
I hope and pray that my grandchildren..all the unhappy of the world soon will kow that they have so much...they are so much and they are loved so much.
Just like my grand daughter Whiteny..she was within hours of not een being brought into this world...hours away from her mom having an abortion..and at the last minute changed her mind with encouragement of Whitney's dad and me, her grandma...she was very much wanted even by her mom...
Why I now ponder as I write this...is there so much unhappiness the children of today feel...
I hope that something changes..that all the material things of the world will not bring happiness....Let's hope and pray they realize that happiness comes within....
Replies
You certainly bring up a lot of questions to ponder. Every generation since time began has always had the over 30s wondering what in heck the under 30s think they\'re doing and why??
But I do think there\'s a lot more discontent, especially among young people, than there has been in the past. I\'m sure there\'s a million studies out there that offer reasons and theories ~ sociological, political, psychological.
Here\'s my pondering theory: The world has shrunk so fast and so furiously in the past 30 years and young people grow up facing zillions more choices than we ever even knew existed and it\'s confusing, frightening and overwhelming. There have been studies that compare a group of children who are offered a room full of toys and told they can pick just one to play with to a group that is offered two or three toys and told they can pick just one as well. The children with the dozens of choices take a long time to decide and, even after the decision, they are usually not very happy with their choice. On the other hand, the children with two or three choices make their selections quickly and are very pleased with their choices.
Supermarkets, Walmarts, Costcos ~ they all push us into selecting among overwhelming products each and every day ~ no wonder we\'re overloaded and stressed ~ especially the young people. And then there is the incomprehensible enormity of the online world! Literally millions of websites and cute things and appalling things and educational things and inspirational things out there just waiting for us to click in. It makes my head spin and I choose to ignore most of it.
And, yes, as children in the 1950s, I think, even Christmas was a much smaller affair ~ exciting lights, decorations, visits from Santa and presents under the tree ~ but not the ginormous extravaganzas that holidays have become. Young people definitely have way more \"toys\" (including iPads, iPhones, Wii etc. etc.)
My daughters are in their 30s and, while they aren\'t overwhelmed with their \"things\" and don\'t complain that their \"things\" don\'t bring them happiness, they can\'t figure out what to do with their lives and are unwilling/unable to commit to a life partner or even a life path ~ \"how do you know...maybe the next guy around the corner is the one...\" I\'m sure I was lucky partnering up with my college sweetheart but it\'s also a lot of hard work and, yes, it is a commitment ~ it limits some of our options which young people seem unable to do.
And then there are the philosophical questions for them ~ \"shall I travel? shall I go back to school? shall I, shall I, shall I...\" \"The 30s are the new 20s\" and all that.
I\'m with you ~ I pray that some of this craziness calms down and young people can feel more contentment from within.
With much love and big hugs ~ Debbie
I so agree with what you say! The more they have the more they want! Nothing brings contentment. I wish life could slow down and enjoyment could be found in simple ways like it used to be.
I agree wih Debby (CorriesMom)... our world has gotten smaller, we are more connected.
When I was a child we were more isolated, now with internet we connect anywhere anytime. I had to send a letter (snail mail) to my penpal in Australia and it took almost a week to get there, now I could have written her in seconds and getting an almost intantaneous reply... we are all about instant gratification.
Since I doubt that all of todays technology is going to go away, we have to find a way to get back to basics. .. love, home, family.
Hugs, MaryLou
I appreciate your pondering and have thought so much as the other women have too about this. What I notice is how impersonal everything has become with technology. Everyone comes home and retreats to their gadgets and what is most needed are those heart to heart, human connections.
Each generation faces staggering growth in so many areas yet the basics are what is craved. As humans our brains still can only contain what they always have and yet there is just so much out there... brain drain and overload is what I often feel which affects all of us.
No answers that\'s for sure yet lots of feelings around this too. Thank you for journaling what is in your heart and we can continue to have hope.
XO Joanie
Happiness as been defined as \"things\" too many times. I agree with all that has been stated above....with all our worldly ways of \"connectiveness\" we are not connected to the right things. It is too easy to connect to cyberspace than it is to people face to face....I find the social network Facebook...just that...a picture...and sometimes, not the real deal. Face to face is actual human bonding. Children of this day and age are connecting to space...not reality in real time in front of them....in the flesh. Sad to say that it is the only outreach some outcasts have. Society is hurting in a gigantic way....now more than ever. Unless we strive for balance in our lives...there is none. This generation, as others past, much choose self-control and balance. The click of a button is too handy for an impulsive fingertip....and that is life right now. Technology versus the human condition. More is better....fast is better....patience is out the WINDOWS (meant to be a play on words) LOL...yet really sad.
Thank you for your thought provoking journal.....love, dale...brandon\' s mom
Don\'t you just wish you could turn back the clock to a simpler time!
Don\'t you just wish you could turn back the clock to a simpler time!
I THINK WE ALL GET CAUGHT UP IN THE IDEA THAT A COLLECTION OF THINGS AND PEOPLE THAT WILL MAKE US HAPPY, BUT...I THIN K THAT IT IS MORE LIKELY THAT IT IS HOW WE LIVE OUR LIVES THAT MAKES US HAPPY...OR NOT.....
And I do think that there is not enough time spent in nature in the simplest of pleasures and places with people you love....
and it is almost lost on people that love is all...and that giving love brings happiness....giving it away,,,that\'s when the happiness comes.....
Sandi, I agree. I think sometimes the more kids have the more they lose sight of the simple things and they feel empty all the time. Hugs, Linda