Cars, Kids, and Aging

Now, before I get into the meat of this post I feel that some announcements need to made.  Well, really just two announcements.

1.  I've decided to post every Tuesday, although I'm not comfortable putting up an exact time of day.  It will probably be in the afternoons or early evenings, but no guarantees   Please come read, enjoy, and click on some ad's so that I have a possibility of both being able to write and eat.

2.  I've also decided to participate in the Pagan Blog Project, which means that every Friday I will be blogging about a subject near and dear to my little Pagan heart.  So, if you want to come learn about my views and Pagan's, Paganism, and what it means to be Pagan, then come check it out.  So far it's been really cool and has challenged me to write more.  Once again, read, enjoy, click on ad's so I don't starve.  Can I over-emphasize that last bit again?  Please help me not starve, I like food.

Over view, you get two blog posts a week now instead of having sporadic random posting. Yay?
Now onwards to the actual blog!

I feel like that old guy who sits on his porch and complains about how the world is going loose in it's joints all day.  This is mostly because I feel this gap between me and others of my generation.  They tend to be irresponsible, arrogant, and ignorant.  Which as many of you know is a good combination if you're trying to make me strangle you or become and incoherent lunatic shouting curses at the skies.

Recently I've realized it's not all their fault.  Some of the blame lies with the parents.  Many of these kids didn't have to good fortune to be born to parents that challenged them constantly to be self sufficient and to think for themselves.  I grew up in a small town learning to fish and garden and shoot.  I can clean and dress an animal carcass, I know which parts will make you sick and which parts are good to eat, I know how to cook, how to sew, and how to do my own dishes.  I've been working since I was fifteen, and the longest I've ever spend unemployed was just over a year.  This last one is a minor miracle in today's economic situation.  What all of this is intended to say is that many of the people in my generation were not taught how to live productive or fruitful lives.  This bothers me for more reasons than I care to get into right now.

What specifically brings this up today is that I saw something while I was driving home from class with my partner.  What I saw was a young man, probably sixteen or seventeen, driving an extremely expensive convertible.  As an EMT I frequently refer to convertible vehicles as rolling coffins, because the convertible top does nearly nothing to stop the potential kinetic energy of the road smashing your skull when you have an accident.  My issue with this isn't with the kid, he's a kid, he's going to drive whatever he can get his hands on that has wheels and goes fast enough to do something stupid in.  I get that.  My issue is with the parenting, or rather, the lack thereof.

When I turned sixteen I was allowed to drive the 1984 Toyota pickup truck my parents had owned for years.  It was what I still think of today when I think of a beater truck.  That being said, I had a minor accident in the summer after my freshman year where no one was injured.  I now drive a 1991 Ford Explored.  Still a beater, but I've been in several accidents, it still runs and no one has been injured, except for one person who had a prior injury aggravated if you want to count that.  I was also allowed to drive my Moms' suburban around town and to run errands.  What do all of these vehicles have in common?  They were and are great vehicles for people because of their safety features, something that a convertible just doesn't have.

Something people need to realize is that accidents happen.  It's why we have seat belts and auto insurance, despite the fact that they can both be a pain in the ass at times.  The other thing they need to realize is that convertibles and sports cars aren't designed to be particularly safe.  They're designed to look cool and go fast, which for teenagers whose brains haven't fully developed is a really big temptation.  Ergo, giving your kid a convertible for his sixteenth birthday, bad idea.  Giving them an old beater that they might not like as much but is safer, good idea.

Having this conversation with my partner the rest of the way home, I suddenly realize that I sound like a grumpy old man.  I'm okay with that, I feel like it means I might be getting just a smidge smarter or wiser, but at the same time it makes me feel silly.  I'm in my early twenties!  What am I doing talking like an old man about how the world is circling the drain?  I don't really know, but if it's this or the uninformed arrogance of the so  called "moral majority" of my generation then I prefer this.

And that's my two cents.