0 Parents

An Open Letter to Parental Units:

Hello. I am sixteen and an only child. These facts are listed here in order to clarify that this if the first and last time my family is having to deal with puberty and teenagedom. So no one has any experience in what's going on in my household right now, nor will anyone ever be able to put this information to use.

I think the biggest thing that parents need to know is that it's not going to be easy, period. Although I've articulated this to my parents before, they seem as if they have yet to get that yes, I understand where they're coming from and yes, ill probably feel the same way when (if) I have kids one day. But no, I'm not going to agree with you now because I'm in the moment and this is not me with my kids. This is me thinking of the current and the present. We're to going to agree and that's that. It's not supposed to be easy so stop punishing me for not making it so.

Also: parenting books are not the end all for advice. What you have to realize is that children doing come in a set amount of favors. There's not only like 10 kinds you might end up with. We are a blend of personalities, morals, and ideals and more. So stop trying to treat me like the cold you've read about in your books. I've read those books too and let me tell you, I'm nothing like Sally NoName so stop trying to be Mrs. Smith. It won't end well for anyone.

Also: your child will not learn just from you. You will not be their only teacher in life. A big part or growing up is learning and discerning truth for yourself and by assuming or manipulating your child into only learning from you, you are actually stunting their mental growth. Stop being surprised when they don't have the same exact morals and beliefs as you. And stop being condescending and believing that they'll come around eventually. When you say things like that, you're only exhibiting the fact that you think that they're being silly or stupid or naive or whatever it is that you think.

Also: your child is not you. Stop expecting them to be.

I could go on but it's getting more rant-y than philosophical and it's a good idea to stop before I fall too far behind.

0 And we all have a duty to our country

So sometimes I don't like people. At all. And people are like that. We don't like people. Though that may stem from personal pet peeves, a lot of it comes from society ignoring its civil duty not to be a douchebag.

Now you may be thinking, "Syd, why do you think you can dictate how someone thinks?" And you're right, I can't. If you want to think evil, dark thoughts, go for it. The issue is when you express your thoughts and in the process hurt someone else. You can think whatever you want as beautiful. You can think whatever as not beautiful. The problem starts when you make someone else feel ugly.

And that's what's wrong with the world a lot of the time these days. People try and succeed at making others feel ugly because they don't exactly meet their idea of beautiful. And that's crap. Utter crap.

Civic duties are duties you have to the world and society around you. That's like waiting your turn at stop signs, moving along quickly in lines, being ready at the airport and the like. This also extends to being polite when being served and actually trying to be a good worker. There are some things that I'm really picky about (don't get me started about gum and food in general) but everyone can agree that it all boils down to not being a jerkface.

A lot of the issues come from people being selfish or rude or impolite. You don't have to care about each other but it's not your job to make life worse. Everything would be better if people just was neutral to each other at the very least.

Now you may also be asking, "Syd, why should I be nice to people?" Well for one, I don't mean nice. I mean decent. And why shouldn't you be decent? You don't know these people, why would you have any emotion towards them? Since you don't have a history with them, then you should be neutral. You should be neutral and try to make lines move as fast as possible. You should be neutral and wait your turn at the stop sign. You should be neutral and not be a douchebag.

A reason people are douchebags is because they're sure that others will be douchebags so they as well be one first. And this logic is flawed. It's a continuous destructive circle that is false. This is like pedaling backwards just to be going somewhere. Really, you should assume they are as be in return. This way, the wheels spin forward.