I am quite sure that most teenagers, somewhere along the line, tend to be losers. That’s primarily because they are not quite as smart as they think they are. Par for the course. In other words, normal stuff. I’m not talking about that. Hell, I was pretty much of a fool when I was eighteen.
What I am talking about is what I am witnessing today. Today, the only ambition I see is “I am owed for being born, so give me what I want.” If you call that ambition, we are living in different worlds.
I believe part of the problem is that too many have had a relatively easy life. That is to say, no really hard times. My family were not what they call, “dirt poor” but we lived right close to “the other side of the tracks.” In other words, “What? Me work?” was not an option.
I am also quite sure that many of these youngsters, who have an easy life, feel guilty because they see poverty. So then we hear, “Let everybody have everything.” That’s a really swell idea; If everybody has everything then nobody has anything. Look at it this way, if you really believe that you shouldn’t have to work to get the things you want then, if everybody did that, there wouldn’t be anything to get. You can’t have it if it ain’t there. And, let’s face it, the wealthy provide jobs.
Why am I preaching? Well, let me tell you. It’s like this, I mowed lawns until I was fourteen. Then, at the wonderful age of fourteen, I was allowed to get a Social Security Card. The card allowed me to get a job. And, no silly questions. I graduated from high school in the allotted time. Also note here that my experience is little different from millions of teenagers in the 1950s (boys and girls). By the way, if you didn’t know, in those days, you applied for an SS Card at the age of fourteen. You weren’t tagged by the government at birth.
Back to being eighteen. I went to college for a year and did miserably. But I will admit that I played a pretty fair game of bridge. In other words, I was pretty much of a fool when I was eighteen, as I have already confessed.
When I was nineteen, I began to wise up and I enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. Smartest thing I ever did. The USAF sent me to electronics school (almost a year). And that training landed me a job at IBM.
What I am saying is, take hold of your own life and stop begging. Grow up, little boy, and become a man.
