30 is the new 5, 70 is the new 30, and death is available for a limited time at McDonald's

[acalculatedname]

I was probably 13 when I first heard the phrase, "Never trust anyone over 30." "Wow, that's cool," dumb / impressionable 13-year-old-me said to himself.

Comments

[adoptedwriter]

I've enjoyed adult life more than my under thirty life except for my wedding and having my 1st kid at 28. Work is easier now too. They take you more seriously.
AW

[theun4givables]

How 'bout the good ol' "trust no one" concept and call it a day? lol.

That just might be how I tend to view things, though. ;)

[acalculatedname]

Oh, Fox Mulder.

(i'm not really far off, actually, but it does tend to make my conflicting belief in the inherent goodness of humanity difficult to reconcile.)

[alycewilson]

In this youth-worshipping culture, it's difficult not to bewail every year of age gained. Yet, ironically, looking back at myself at age 30, I think, "Wow, I was young!"

[tatdatcm]

Turning 30 was harder for me than turning 40. Thirty meant that I really and truly had to grow up and that I would probably be driving the dreaded mini-van in the near future. By 40, I was comfortable in my own skin, confident with who I had become and ready to take on the world. I'm approaching 50 (Oh God! I'm approaching 50!), and still don't find it as scary as 30 was. I'm looking forward to being able to enjoy myself and do the things I want to do again, to find those peers and friendships again, without family obligations holding me back.

[acalculatedname]

For some reason I also find 40 less scary than I found 30. But there's no denying that the things I have always found, and still find, important are the things that are harder to enjoy or discuss publicly the older I get.

Thankfully, the culture is changing in little ways that *marginally* accommodate the likes of me just a little more than would have been the case for a late-30something (or "worse") when I was growing up. I feel very lonely as is, but I can't imagine how lonely I'd have felt being current-day me in 1985.

[halfshellvenus]

I was seemingly born to self-criticize to the point of self-paralysis, to tear down every good thing I even start to build, to make endless fucking trouble for myself.
One of the very, very few useful things ever to come out of Pop Psychology was the idea that this kind of behavior is probably the replaying of other people's criticisms of you. I was very much the same way for a long, long time, and much of it was thanks to my mother's endless focusing on my flaws and imperfections. I'll bet your Dad treated you somewhat like that too... It may not be your personality type at all, it may be that when ALL your parents seem to see are your mistakes and shortcomings, pretty soon that's all you'll see too.

The kids are probably rolling their eyes at Grandpa, though... because what the hell could he possibly know about bringing down the system?Haha--not only are you undoubtedly right about how the younger crowd perceives this guy, but also correct in the idea that he has forgotten more about radicalism and protest than most of those kids

[acalculatedname]

Oh, sure, I know my dad has some role in all this, but at the same time I was shockingly quick in childhood to decide that he was wrong about a lot of things, and subsequently withdrew. So while the hurt may have still been there from time to time, here I was at age six or seven seeing myself as smarter than my dad and keeping significant elements of myself quiet as I knew they would not be "understood" yet were just A-OK.

And his critiques were never even a quarter as articulate (or an eighth as specific) as the things I level at myself all the time.

Hard to know how this is all pieced together.