Don't trust anyone over 30?

[Alan9]

Provocative title? I wonder. I am almost 60 and this is what we believed at age 20. Is it still true? Are we mid-lifers not to be trusted?

A few litmus test questions. How many mid-lifers even remember what we did at age 20? Really remember the details of what we really did, the so-called good and the bad, the pretty and the not-so-pretty, the successes and the failures, the socially acceptable and the not-so-acceptable. Heck, some of us either had criminal records or would have had them if we had been caught (not me, of course!)

Second litmus test question: How many of us are willing to be honest with ourselves and others, especially our kids, yes especially with younger people, about who we really were at age 20 in all our glory, including when we fell flat on our faces? Frankly, I have found too few willing to be honest with younger people about their earlier experiences which we too often see as shortcomings, not innocent learning experiences.

So, should younger people trust those over 30? Honestly, I wouldn’t recommend it as a general rule. I don’t think you are going to get the entire picture. I think we were right at age 20 to doubt what we heard from many of those over 30. Sort through elders until you find those who can be honest about their earlier lives. They are out there and unafraid to tell you the entire truth. I wish you all the best.

Alan

["Mad" Miles]

Good Post, except for the text formatting problems. (Barry?)

I am one of the lucky few who turned thirty the year that Abbie Hoffman changed, "Don't trust anyone over thirty" to, "Don't trust anyone under thirty!" He is attributed with both quotes. The change had a lot to do with the times, aka the Reagan Era.

So, as a consequence, I've been trustworthy my entire life!!!! According to one of the key imprimaturs of the "movement".

Bwaaahhaaahhaaaaahhhhaaaaa! (Sic.)

Actually I never put much credence in that blatant over-generalization.

Where would the hippies have been without the beats? And the beats without the hipsters and bohos? And the hipsters and bohos without the hepcats, flappers and reds? And the hepcats, flappers and reds without the anars, progressives and denizens of the demi-mondaine?

And that's just four generations. It goes much further back.

A lot of this ain't nothin' new folks.

But still, look for people willing to cut through the bullshit and tell the truth? as far as that can be determined. S'cool. Age is irrelevant to this project.

But when you're young, it's seductive to think you're the only one to have ever felt this way. Nothing wrong with that.

Let's hear it for the arrogance and naivete of youth. Without them/you, most revolutions would never get off the ground.

And I've been waiting for the next one for forty years!

AND I've done my best to make it happen.

What have you (You, the person reading this.) done to make everyone free and to save the planet from ourselves?

"Mad" Miles