Dear Children In Your 20’s:
I was you once; some of these statements are things I wish people had told ME when I was in your shoes. The rest of these items are statements that I and other people in their 40’s and beyond have noticed about you and your generation. Even though biologically you’re adults, the term ‘children’ is very appropriate, because that’s how you act and relate to the world.
The first order of business: what the hell have any of you accomplished in life to make you this goddamn proud of yourselves?
Every once in awhile, I meet one of you who actually HAS done something: mastered some athletic or artistic skill, has some kind of specialized job that brings them satisfaction, or seen parts of the world nobody else has seen, and has gained insight from studying other cultures. Unfortunately, it’s hard to give those twenty-somethings the praise they deserve, because the jerks get all the attention, and there’s a lot of jerks to share the attention.
My main theory is that most of you suffer from clinical narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). I’m told that true NPD is difficult to diagnose, but the main symptoms are a hugely inflated ego and/or false sense of accomplishment, sometimes accompanied by a so-called ‘false self’, a character that one feels compelled to assume.
What causes NPD? Among other things, a deeply-rooted sense of personal insecurity. Most of you come from broken homes where you were shuttled between parents who treated you as pawns in their own selfish, juvenile battles. Add to that the fact that most of you were raised in daycare, and that your parents, out of guilt, never told you ’no’, never told you to wipe your ass or do your homework, and told you everything you did was great. We can safely conclude that most of your generation suffers from NPD as a result of this abandonment and permissiveness.
Here’s a bitter pill: when you’re in a crowd, every one of you thinks the spotlight is on YOU all the time, when in the real world, when you’re in a group, you can’t be the center of attention the whole time. Just make the most of the moment when the spotlight’s on you, and allow yourself to melt back in the group when it’s not your turn.
I was you once; some of these statements are things I wish people had told ME when I was in your shoes. The rest of these items are statements that I and other people in their 40’s and beyond have noticed about you and your generation. Even though biologically you’re adults, the term ‘children’ is very appropriate, because that’s how you act and relate to the world.
The first order of business: what the hell have any of you accomplished in life to make you this goddamn proud of yourselves?
Every once in awhile, I meet one of you who actually HAS done something: mastered some athletic or artistic skill, has some kind of specialized job that brings them satisfaction, or seen parts of the world nobody else has seen, and has gained insight from studying other cultures. Unfortunately, it’s hard to give those twenty-somethings the praise they deserve, because the jerks get all the attention, and there’s a lot of jerks to share the attention.
My main theory is that most of you suffer from clinical narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). I’m told that true NPD is difficult to diagnose, but the main symptoms are a hugely inflated ego and/or false sense of accomplishment, sometimes accompanied by a so-called ‘false self’, a character that one feels compelled to assume.
What causes NPD? Among other things, a deeply-rooted sense of personal insecurity. Most of you come from broken homes where you were shuttled between parents who treated you as pawns in their own selfish, juvenile battles. Add to that the fact that most of you were raised in daycare, and that your parents, out of guilt, never told you ’no’, never told you to wipe your ass or do your homework, and told you everything you did was great. We can safely conclude that most of your generation suffers from NPD as a result of this abandonment and permissiveness.
Here’s a bitter pill: when you’re in a crowd, every one of you thinks the spotlight is on YOU all the time, when in the real world, when you’re in a group, you can’t be the center of attention the whole time. Just make the most of the moment when the spotlight’s on you, and allow yourself to melt back in the group when it’s not your turn.
