I Hate Them All

I hate it when a 'gadget' tries to tell me how old I am!

The Nintendo bloody DS and Dr. Washikaki, or whatever he's called, insists that I have a mental age of 31 when I know for a fact that my mental clock stopped when I was 17!

It will always be 17!

17 ... the age I was when I joined the army and, in the eyes of my peers, became an adult.

Just last week, over a cup of coffee with a clients parents, the subject of teenagers came up. We discussed the way teenagers these days seem to be protected, molly-coddled and guided and we compared them to the 'teenagers' we used to be.

Things were were so different back in the seventies ... you became 17 years old and you were expected to go out into the world and earn your keep.

We were told 'You don't get anything for nothing', 'You make your bed and you lie in it' and 'You have to learn to fight your own battles'.  We were, quite literally, thrown at the World and told to cope with it!

In today's world, parents seem to be clinging to their off-springs, and their off-springs respond by asking for more and more. Keeping their independence and responsibilities firmly at bay for as long as possible.

I will make no bones about it ... I hate (most) teenagers with a passion!

Call it jealousy if you wish, but I hate the way they hang on to their parents acting helpless, and how they fail to learn from their experiences.  They have a 'something for nothing' attitude and believe that they 'deserve' everything on a plate and sugar coated.

When I was young, going to university was a dream many had, but few achieved. Further education of any kind was possible, but candidate lists were long and, in some cases, the qualifications were not recognised.

But I digress ...

All I wanted to say was that in my mind I am still only that fresh faced teenager that left home at 17 to join the army.

I will probably never grow up ... I will be 17 forever.

Hell!

It's almost Christmas ... someone has to display a little bit of the 'Scrooge' mentality.

It might as well be me!

Humbug to you all!!!