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The best years of your life

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posted on May, 17 2011 @ 07:24 AM
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When I was growing up adults always told me over and over not to squander my time, that these were the best years of my life, I'll always want to return to this time, etc.. and as far as I could tell my friends parents were all telling them the same thing.

In popular culture this was a theme as well. Sitcoms of the day always had the occasional "heartfelt" episode and these being the best years of your life was always a topic sooner or later.

I personally never believed this. Not that I had a difficult childhood or adolescence. In fact I had a lot of fun and the times were pretty good.

It's just that the notion that my "best years" could be so early in my life was ridiculous to me. Why bother to go on if I was going to peak before 20? Apparently we all were supposed to. Had our parents peaked in high school? Did they spread their "best years" message because their entire generation resented their current lives?

So now we have this: www.itgetsbetter.org...

Are they no longer the "best years" of our lives? Were they ever? Have they flipped to become the "worst years" in the 2000's?



posted on May, 17 2011 @ 07:33 AM
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What does a gay and lesbian site have to do with your question?



posted on May, 17 2011 @ 07:50 AM
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The site you have linked is for young gay and lesbian kids who are finding life difficult to deal with. These kids are 5 times more likely to commit suicide than straight kids. This site just helps them to see that the hell they are going through with parents, friends and peers is temporary and will get better as they mature. These videos just encourage them to keep going and make it through the difficult teen years and a gay person.

I LOVE this site. It's very much needed, IMO.
edit on 5/17/2011 by Benevolent Heretic because: (no reason given)



posted on May, 17 2011 @ 07:53 AM
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Is it just a message for gays and lesbians? Secret club code?

I noticed videos from Google guys and the POTUS and many other not necessarily gay or lesbian individuals.

I interpreted it as an all-encompassing "outcast" message.

Several kids up here committed suicide over petty bullying and there was no homosexual connection whatsoever.

I didnt realize this was such a specialized message for gays only.
edit on 17-5-2011 by thisguyrighthere because: (no reason given)



posted on May, 17 2011 @ 08:17 AM
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Originally posted by thisguyrighthere
I noticed videos from Google guys and the POTUS and many other not necessarily gay or lesbian individuals.


The people making the videos aren't necessarily gay (although many of them are), but the message is meant for LGBT kids, who have such a hard time.

www.itgetsbetter.org...



In September 2010, syndicated columnist and author Dan Savage created a YouTube video with his partner Terry to inspire hope for young people facing harassment. In response to a number of students taking their own lives after being bullied in school, they wanted to create a personal way for supporters everywhere to tell LGBT youth that, yes, it does indeed get better.

Two months later, the It Gets Better Project (TM) has turned into a worldwide movement, inspiring over 10,000 user-created videos viewed over 35 million times. To date, the project has received submissions from celebrities, organizations, activists, politicians and media personalities, including President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Adam Lambert, Anne Hathaway, Colin Farrell, Matthew Morrison of "Glee", Joe Jonas, Joel Madden, Ke$ha, Sarah Silverman, Tim Gunn, Ellen DeGeneres, Suze Orman, the staffs of The Gap, Google, Facebook, Pixar, the Broadway community, and many more. For us, every video changes a life. It doesn’t matter who makes it.




I didnt realize this was such a specialized message for gays only.


It's a good message for ALL kids, it's true. It's just that this particular site was started to encourage LGBT youth.



posted on May, 17 2011 @ 08:18 AM
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I don't think it has anything to do with gays or lesbians.

Personally these are the best years of my life, but yes the other years were good as well.

However I think what happened is that, you are feeling old.
And you're reminiscing on earlier parts of your life.


edit on 17-5-2011 by imasecretspy because: spacing sentence stucture



posted on May, 17 2011 @ 08:22 AM
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reply to post by Benevolent Heretic
 


Regardless, gay or not, my inquiry stands.

Kids suicides seem hot topic news in the last couple of years regardless of orientation and even social status as several instances have involved "popular" kids.

Are these instances becoming more common or just making the news more?

As it was a popular theme in my youth, 20+ years ago, that these were the best time of our lives is it now a popular theme that these times are no longer "the best" and in many ways actually are the "worst"?



posted on May, 17 2011 @ 08:25 AM
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reply to post by imasecretspy
 


That's just it. Im not reminiscing. They were not the "best" years of my life. They werent for most people I know.

The best years are still ahead of me. Every year I live is better than the last.

Yet I and my peers were all told that this was it. These were the best.

Did they really mean it or was it just something to say?



posted on May, 17 2011 @ 08:39 AM
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reply to post by thisguyrighthere
 


I agree 100% and I know many that do. I think that when my Mom was telling me that she meant it more towards enjoy not having to deal with adult life, like bills, cars, jobs etc. That how she explained it to me later on. But I did enjoy my youth and now I'm very much enjoying life and staring 30 right in the face, looking forward to it a little. I also have friends who are really enjoying their 50's, they are settled a little and are watching the grandkids grow and such. For me, life is just good, it's what you make of it.



posted on May, 17 2011 @ 08:41 AM
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reply to post by thisguyrighthere
 


I think older people tell kids that youth is the best time of their lives, but it's because they don't remember the angst and insecurity that most young people feel. Sure, I look fondly at my 20s - youth, health, beauty... but if I really think about what was going on with me at the time, I prefer my life and my 'self' now.

I think older people who say that youth is the best time are thinking they wish they had taken advantage of their youth and done more and felt more secure.

It's one of those odd things about life. Kids can't wait to grow up and adults just wish they were young again. (of course this is a generalization) I wish I knew then what I know now and could go back and be 20 again! I'd have a blast! (not that I didn't the first time around)



posted on May, 17 2011 @ 08:46 AM
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reply to post by thisguyrighthere
 


Ahh then we are in the same boat.

I think more or less it was just used as a figure of speech.
edit on 17-5-2011 by imasecretspy because: sentence structure



posted on May, 17 2011 @ 08:53 AM
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As it is profitable to the mental balance of our mimds and souls to enjoy each season in it's time it is so with each age we go through on our journey through life.

In my youth and middle age I often wondered if I was going to be all I could and receive all I could from life and then spend my old age with nothing but memories.

Having reached old age I find these years to be the best of my life.

I've done all and more than I had set out to do.
I worked long and hard and wanted for nothing.

In 2007 I sold my business and finished buying all the big girl toys I ever wanted.
My dreams have come true.

Now I find there is something very special about the age I'm now in even though it is filled with physcial pain and it's not easy doing anything anymore.

Yesterday my great granddaughter who is 3 years old visited me and we had a conversation.

As we talked and looked into each others face I knew we were connecting in our very souls.
It was a fantastic experience to feel that childs mind probing my mind.

I was taken aback with tears of joy and a beautiful understanding between the two of us.

This is truely the Golden Age for me.

I have time to enjoy each moment, each sound and each object my eyes see.
There is no hurry to do anything or be anywhere.

I can not imagine it getting any better than it is now.
It will be pure heaven when it does.



posted on May, 17 2011 @ 08:53 AM
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It is all in the Voodoo! Seriously, any adult that says that to a child is only trying to curse them with their own misery! My mother tried this one on me and it just did not work, she said, "you are going to have one just like you" (tell me who hasn't heard that incantation?) Well, I fixed her, I told her, "Oh yeah, well I am Gay!" ...and, I broke the curse!

My brothers were not so lucky! They had several "just like them"!



posted on May, 17 2011 @ 10:06 AM
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Personally i didnt think my childhood was all that great, Certainly not what i would call the "best years of my life"
I consider anyone who is simply content with life to be living it up.
I strive to be happy and that makes me miserable when i often fail - But i always try again!



posted on May, 17 2011 @ 10:28 AM
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Originally posted by SearchLightsInc
Personally i didnt think my childhood was all that great, Certainly not what i would call the "best years of my life"
I consider anyone who is simply content with life to be living it up.
I strive to be happy and that makes me miserable when i often fail - But i always try again!


Happiness makes you miserable? That sounds like a curse too! I would try to break that one! I wonder who told you that and why you believe it to be true? I think that is the question you should ask and then look to consider the source; sometimes that helps break it up. I call it, "naming the demons", LOL
My parent's names are on many of them!



posted on May, 17 2011 @ 10:58 AM
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Originally posted by Greensage

Originally posted by SearchLightsInc
Personally i didnt think my childhood was all that great, Certainly not what i would call the "best years of my life"
I consider anyone who is simply content with life to be living it up.
I strive to be happy and that makes me miserable when i often fail - But i always try again!


Happiness makes you miserable? That sounds like a curse too! I would try to break that one! I wonder who told you that and why you believe it to be true? I think that is the question you should ask and then look to consider the source; sometimes that helps break it up. I call it, "naming the demons", LOL
My parent's names are on many of them!


Hahaha i meant that i get miserable when i cant get happy
Feeling the parent thing though lolol



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