The Golden Age of Youth
“The Golden Age of Youth”? Who coined up that expression? I am certainly not experiencing “golden” days in my life as a youth. Furthermore, many of my friends’ complaints seem to attest that their experiences of youth roughly match up with mine, that is, life as a youth is tough!
Firstly, being young automatically means that I have limited knowledge and no job skills, which means that no one will employ me for any worthwhile job. This means, clearly and simply, “No Independent Income”. Now, it is undeniable that without money, you become severely limited in your options. You cannot buy anything, go anywhere or do anything. Obviously, this is a problem for me.
Unable to function without cash, I have to rely on my parents financially. Unable to buy a car, I have to rely on them for transport. Unable to buy a house, I have to rely on them for accommodation. This means, theoretically, that my parents are my Supreme Commanders. When they tell me to jump, I have to jump. In such a situation, I am deprived of the vital human right that caused the American Civil War – Freedom.
Secondly, as long as you are not too old or too ill to walk, people will always be measuring you by your achievements. This is especially true for people in their youth. Parents, teachers, society and the government love to gauge us scholastically, physically, socially, morally and in whatever means they can think of. Thus, school examinations become so important that many of us will study hours on end to perform well in them.
Actually the pressure on us to perform well at all times is great. The pressure from our family gets stronger the older we grow. Since we started schooling, our parents have been comparing our test results with those of the children of their friends’, who happen to be equally goal-orientated parents. In fact, since we were born, our parents have been comparing the ages at which we first started talking or walking, our kiddy IQ test results and such other traps for vainglory. If I were a piece of chicken, I’d consider myself “Kentucky Fried”, not because I was “spicy” or “original” but because I have been chopped into pieces, tenderized, pressure-cooked and well-fried.
Then, there is the question of romance. Practically speaking, youth is the worst time to get romantically attached, because, as was earlier explained, we lack the time and money to maintain a special boy-girl relationship.
Yet, during our youth, we are at our peak; physically, we are at our most attractive. Furthermore, our hormones are swinging about wildly as we mature sexually. Unfortunately, this causes us to be more prone to getting involved in romantic relationships, which leads to heartache and causes us to perform badly in our examinations. I think that the government should have chosen a better time to set all the major examinations than at this time, don’t you?
So, youth is a traumatic time. It is definitely not “golden”. In my opinion, the idea of “The Golden Age of Youth” must have been an illusion dreamt up by fools. Perhaps we should call it the “Iron Pyrite (Fool’s Gold) Age of Youth”.
