Will And Jazzy Jeff Were So Right... But Who's Fault Is It???

In an ever changing world where parents are constantly battling with their kids, we have to look back and find out who's really to blame... Our parents were very free love and fuck Government, just like we're text messages and Starbucks coffee... In most cases, our parents think we're stupid, and that we are the all knowing creatures of the Earth, and they use that against us because "they've been there..." Trust me, I'm a firm believer in the "you learn your entire life, so you never know by 'being there' theory..." When you look at your parents generation, you see car shows at the ole' drive in movie theatre, sitting at the top of hills overlooking the city and making out (gross I know, horrible imagery for your parents, sorry), The Beatles (not knocking them, trust me, I love classic oldies), bell bottom jeans (contrary to popular belief, they're not making a comeback, and they never should), stupid hair-do's (or hair don'ts as we refer to them today), 8 tracks (we don't really have a clue what those really were, but they're called CD's now, time to upgrade dad), listening to stories on the radio (we just go out now, sorry), etc... When you look at our generation, all you see is cell phones, jeans with holes in them, scantly dressed girls, shaggy hair guys, drugs, sex with multiple partners, fast cars (Lakota parents paid for), kids that don't work and have no will or drive to work, living with our parents till we're 30 (which is about the time most people get married now), going out to the bars 8 nights a week (yes, it's an exaggeration, and well placed may I add), tattoo's on every inch of our bodies, piercings (well, you know...), and the Internet (thanks Al Gore)... Look at the complete polar opposites between us... It's no wonder they don't understand us, and we will never understand them. My parents pull out Polaroids of them when they were our age, and I just laugh, because I pull out my digital camera and show them (and I didn't have to wait to get them printed)...

The point is, we're 2 completely different generations... When you look back at things like tattoo's in the past as compared to the present, you see a huge gap in people's methods of thinking. Today, tattoo's are almost a necessity, as opposed to the 50's - 70's, when they were frowned upon. Piercings are the same thing as well... You would never see a girl in the 50's - 70's have more than one piercing in both ears, because anything more made you trashy... Where as today, I've met girls with over 20 in just one ear, and some in places my parents would HIGHLY disapprove of... At the same time, guys have piercings now, and long ago, that wouldn't have slid so well... But that's the difference between us... But is anyone at fault because of that? No, changing times cause changing people... We've evolved just like cave men... I'm not trying to say that parents are extinct or endangered here, but they are unwilling to understand us, they just push us aside and call us "punks..."

Our parents were raised in a time of strict beliefs, beliefs that their parents instilled in them... If they didn't listen to their parents there was heavy consequences, such as what we would call a "Rodney King Beating" where as today, parents are putting their kids in "time out" where you send them to their room (to play xbox online with their friends) to let them "think about what they've done..." Good one parents... Look, we're not trying to revolt here, but if you don't stay with the status quo, you get ousted... Our parents need to understand that we're a different class of people, and we have different beliefs, and college does that to you... College teaches us to question our beliefs and how we were raised, and how things were instilled in our brains. Just the other day, I questioned my religious beliefs, and if there's one thing you don't bring up with your parents, it's religion. Most of our parents went to religious schools and were beaten alive (see above) by nuns if they questioned that belief... With us, we have the freedoms to question it, and think how we want... Our parents don't like to believe that...

Let's take an example that I have in front of me:

Warning: The names in this story have been changed to protect the identity of these people, although the truth lies within the story...

So a person that I work with, we'll call her Shley, is engaged to we'll call him Rad... They've been dating and engaged for quite a bit now, and for some reason Shley's parents don't like Rad for reason's still unexplained, however, from Shley's background, you can tell that Shley's parents don't like Rad because his religious beliefs differ from that of Shley's... Is this illegal? If your belief in your religion is so strong, are you allowed by your God to judge this person, or is that something your God would not approve of? Because to me, God accepts everyone that believes in him... By judging someone else, you're not better than that person in my book (and by the Good book)... Like I stated before, you have to realize that we (us) are different from you (parents), because we've been asked our whole lives to challenge things that we believe differently in, and we are asked to ask questions, and explore other possibilities (I'm not talking about sexuality here folks so calm down), but this is how we were raised, this is what schooling taught us... So don't blame us for being how we are... You can only blame society, and changing times... We're treading water just to survive... We know you've been there, but when you think we're the "know it all's," well guess what, you think you're "the know it all's..." So does that make you better than us??? Look at our generation, we're $80 Lucky Brand Jeans, and you're $20 J.C. Penny jeans... Society and focus groups made us get these products, it wasn't our choice, although there are many choices now and days, but we have a certain class of people that we like to entertain, and that's our group... We aren't trying to impress you here, but we are trying to stay with the times, because that's what society wants...

In this day and age, you have to accept people for their downfalls, not write them off because they have different beliefs, dress differently, act differently, etc... We've been raised to believe that we are no better than anyone around us, and that's how it's going to stay... So I'm just asking you to respect us for what we believe in, although you may not understand it, there's a reason that we do it... It's not our fault, and it's not your fault... It's society as a whole... Start trying to see the world through our eyes, because after all, we are the future Presidents of the United States, Fashion Designers, Business Marketers, and International Travelers... I realize that some of this may be completely off base and off topic, but there's got to be a common ground that we can all stand on, because sooner or later, you're going to sink or swim, so come join us, because I don't know about you, but I'm swimming...