ANGRY YOUNG MAN'S WORD ON PARENTHOOD
By ANGRY YOUNG MAN
Why does it suddenly seem to me that, as standard initiation for a parent, a
full lobotamy is needed?
Either that, or they stick their brains in backwards. True. When you think
of it, every time they're
telling you off, they're probably telling you off for something they did
when they were YOUR age.
Now why is that? Is it because they care about you, or is it something
else? Is it because... No,
surely it's not possible... Is it because they ENVY the fact that you're
young, and you've got the
opportunity to do so many things they never had the chance to? Surely
not... Aren't your Mommy
and Daddy meant to LOVE AND RESPECT YOU?? Yes- they're meant to love and
respect you,
not their ideal vision of what a child should be like, but YOU. Love and
respect, folks. That's what
we teenagers are meant to thrive on here. Love and respect. Being
seventeen and the youngest of
three children, that means my parents have experienced the Sixties. THE
SIXTIES. When Peace,
Love and Goodwill was the motto (second only to Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n'
Roll). THE SIXTIES.
When you could grow your hair long, hell- even wear flowers in it if you
wanted- and nobody would
mind because, hey, YOU WERE BEING YOURSELF. It seems to me, for some reason
or other
(I wonder why) my parents can't remember the lessons taught during the
sixties. That is, if they have
any memory of the sixties at all... Here I am, I'm seventeen, and my Dad's
telling me to cut my hair.
Says it looks stupid. And you know what I'm thinking? I'm thinking of this
picture I saw of him,
taken in the sixties. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Yep, Dad's sitting there, telling
me how he thinks
I should live, and inside I'm laughing at him. "Oh, hey man... You're
absolutely right... Far out..."
But you know what? When I DO get it cut, it won't be because HE told me to
do it. I'll let him
think that... Let him think I'm playing his little I'M THE BOSS game. Oh
no... I'll do it, because I'm
BORED of it the way it is, and I need a change. Because it's my life. Not
his. No way am I going
to be a carbon copy of my old man... No way. No way am I going to sit
there, telling my son how I
should have lived. No way am I going to hold him back, not let him go out
there and make the same
mistakes I made. Because that's how we learn, isn't it? We make mistakes.
Mind you, I'm not just
going to let him (or her for that matter) loose on the world. But I'm not
going to hold them back,
either. If I do, they'll probably start laughing at me... Like this-
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Somewhere in between. Maybe I'll just get a dog...
writers@writersg.com
Last Updated: 3/1/96