Note to Sixteen Year Olds

Have you heard that slogan from the 1960s, “Never trust anyone over thirty”? Well, it’s still true.

Why? Because people over thirty have a stake in the system, and they are more interested in preserving it, than in sharing it with you. Either that, or they have no clue what’s going on, but they need to pretend that they do, in order to preserve their self-respect and get through the day.

Either way, their hands are dirty. They are opposed to idealism because it has failed them, or more exactly, because they have failed it. They have made compromises they want to believe were necessary. “That’s just the way the world is,” they will say. “We do what we can to survive.”

I’m over thirty, so I know what I’m talking about. Of course, you shouldn’t trust me. Trust only yourselves. Until you are thirty, then turn to self-doubt.

7 thoughts on “Note to Sixteen Year Olds

  1. Vago

    By the way, great post. I’m over thirty myself and I’ve completely stopped trusting myself. I think no one really should.

    Your simple analysis is right on. People who have a stake in the system don’t want to change the system. The powerless get screwed and when they get power, they think, hey, we’ve got power now, we’d better preserve the status quo.

    That’s why I remain powerless, but I still don’t trust myself.

    ~v

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  2. Vago

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  3. Housseine

    Great post, i’ve been always feelin this way, with the never trust adults spirit! now that i’m close to my thirty as well, i’m askin myself if it would happen to me too…

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  4. Craig

    Well, you’ve got a point in a way. Life is certainly a lot more fun when you think you know everything, and when you don’t concern yourself with consequences and living up to your commitments and your responsibilities.

    However, I think you put the cut-off date much too high. Unless people are professional students, real life comes crashing down on most of us much sooner than 30. 20 is more like it, or 25 max :)

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