I forget exactly who, besides Pain, the brats… sorry, I mean, who the young people are here. But Pain is my star young pupil, so this is addressed to him.
First of all, don’t believe old people who tell you they wish they were young again. THEY may wish it, but YOU won’t. To a young, creative, feeling person, youth is a curse. Let’s start with your feel for reality.
When I was a lot younger than anybody here, in my teens, I was cursed with common sense and the ability to COUNT. So, for example, when someone said to me in the 1950s – yes, Kennedy did not invent it – that “We are a nation of immigrants” – the arithmetic immediately sprang to my mind.
I would explain that, according to Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations, 1776, America’s population doubled naturally every twenty to twenty-five years. So a thousand people who got here by 1650 would be a million by the time the Ellis Island flood began.
I told people that fifty years ago. But fifty years ago I was preparing for my sixteenth birthday, as I am now preparing for my 66th. Ten years later, “a nation of immigrants” was the national motto.
What about the sixteen year old who explained arithmetic to them?
“Smart kid.”
But ignored. I was told that MY country, the one my people had conquered and held for three and a half centuries, belonged to Ellis Island and the brown America beyond. So Pain must explain this to others. And Pain must listen to the insanity no one with a brain could possibly believe. Pain must get used to the idea that selling out everything he loves is High Morality, the very essence of Self-Denial from the people who call themselves Christians.
Do I envy Pain his youth?
Oddly enough. I don’t.
#1 by Mark on 03/14/2007 - 4:34 pm
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So a thousand people who got here by 1650…
Bob, were you intimately acquainted with the other 999, or were they just “work associates?”
#2 by Pain on 03/15/2007 - 2:46 am
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Bob,
I’m older than I look. My people live into their hundreds; I’ve seen my family tree. You are right about youth. The curse about living long and maturing late is that no one takes you seriously or gives you the respect you’re due until long past when you think they should.
The thing you could help me and I am sure the others here is jealousy.
People will shut off in conversation before you reach the Mantra because they start to feel stupid. They can’t believe you know all of this stuff.
I’ve tried three major tactics with inconsistent results.
One is the “aw shucks” attitude to take them off guard. But when you give them some insight, they can’t believe it’s coming from you and they shut down. They gives looks like scared cats.
The second is the nerd approach. When trying this approach, people will own up right away that you are really smart, but they shut you out with excuses such as that you have book smarts but know nothing of value. People may be more likely to listen when playing the nerd, but they will dismiss what you say.
The last is the super popular people person. I like this best because it is the most fun. This works wonders, but people become fiercely jealous over your popularity. What happens with this is that you will have your audience eating out of your hand until they realize what they are doing, and then they want to kill you after they have destroyed your reputation with accusations of basest villainy.
Men will shout in your face and women will go behind your back to ruin you.
But it all really comes down to jealousy. When these techniques fail, it is easy to keep quiet without realizing it. Have any suggestions, Bob?