By: D. A. Slinkard
It seems to me that we live in a society based upon lies. That’s right, we enjoy lying to ourselves. We do it all the time. The husband asks the wife if his clothes look right, and instead of telling him he has no business wearing skinny jeans, because she lied, there he goes out into the world wearing jeans that were never meant for him to wear in the first place. We have participation trophies handed out to people who barely even tried. What are we teaching? We are teaching the world around us to lie and be deceptive because, honestly, not everyone deserves an award for the work they do.
I can tell you that while growing up I did not always deserve an award or a trophy for the work I did. In fact, I had some tough love and was told quite frequently of my shortcomings. Being told my work was lackluster did more good for me than having someone lie to me and tell me how great and wonderful I was. We have kids growing up these days under false pretenses thinking they are something when in actuality they are nothing.
We wonder why 25- to 30-year-old kids are still living at home with their parents. I am amazed that in the year 2018, I am writing the words “25- to 30-year-olds” and “kids” in the same sentence because I am calling someone who is in their mid-to-late twenties a “kid.” Growing up I did not want to be labeled as such. I wanted to be able to sit at the grown-up table; I wanted to be classified as an adult. And now it seems that we have a society completely wrapped around being a non-adult. We live in a society that teaches our women to be more masculine and our men to be more feminine. No wonder there is so much confusion in the world.
I cannot believe how many t-shirts are out there spouting such slogans such as, “I cannot adult today,” or some other slogan that is just maniacal to suggest. As my pastor would say, “Grow up.” There are some things in life that whether we want to do the task or not makes no difference; you still must do it. If you are a parent and your kid, not a 20-something-year-old kid but a child, is hungry it is your responsibility to feed them. It is your responsibility to make sure your young child is being taken care of. Yet we have grandparents who are raising their own kids plus their grandchildren. Why? We lied to them and told them they were great when we should have been honestly informing them about how the world would eat their lunch.
The time is now to face realities and live up to our responsibilities. We all have responsibilities no matter the age. The responsibilities could be school work, work life, family life, church life, but I can tell you with 100% certainty a responsibility would not be “video games.” I remember I used to be into playing video games, and I actually remember the day when I was sitting there trying to hold my daughter while playing a video game. I knew then that something had to be changed (besides a dirty diaper) and that was the end of my video playing days. I understood I had a responsibility and then I took actions for my responsibility.
I am no martyr. I am no different than the next person as far as my wants, my desires, my hopes, my dreams, but I am different in the way that I think and in the way I live my life. It is high time that we all change the way we think and begin to realize we have a responsibility for the lives we are living. It is not up to our moms and dads to be able to provide for me nor for you if you are a grown adult. This may be a tough article for some to read, and if you are upset by anything that has been written, please know and understand my next comment is made out of love. Those people who are upset and offended by the words written — these people are the problem we face in the world today. It is time to grow up and stop lying to others and yourself.
By: D. A. Slinkard
D.A. Slinkard is the manager of the Athens Staples store
