Friday night and we are hanging out at the local. All hands on deck tonight as the youthful class come out to play and make merry as we always do. I am surrounded by guys in their late 20s and early 30s plus a few people outside of this age bracket trying to fit in. The girls are ageless here with some looking like they were in a dormitory a short while ago and just got picked up by their sponsors or older boyfriends for the night, or the weekend. This is supposed to be progress, the generation that my father came from came out at night to get away from the wife and annoying kids who really didn't want him in the house. Strange isn't it, not being wanted in the house you pay for by the people who you feed. It's a fact of life that is hard to explain but still they came out at night. However, in this day and age, guys do this not to hang out not to get away from the family but because their houses are empty. I am in my late twenties but thinking back I don't think I have actually lived with anyone in the true sense of the word. No splitting rent, putting up a chores schedule or even splitting the groceries. Strange as it may sound, it really is true. So why am I bringing this up, well as the generations roll on we term ourselves as progressive.
Progressive, what does this word actually mean. Favoring or implementing social reform or new, liberal ideas. That does sound like a proper definition of the term, but do you know what that actually means for our generation. Well, our parents lived in the transition between arranged marriages and cohabiting. If you were lucky , you would move to a big town get a good job then cohabit with a person who you see yourself spending the rest of your life with. All this happened very early in life, with most people under the age of 24 having already met their future spouse. In that time we had the respect of the institution of marriage and family along with it. All that is all well and good because people my age had things like school fees, a mortgage, building loan and daily upkeep costs to worry about. I'm sitting here wondering how the weekend will be like, which days will I sleep in and which I'll stay up all night. So I ask again, are we progressive or regressive? I vote regressive, since these are the days that your kids are raised by the cleaning lady and television. You have a 4 bedroom house but the only time you spend with your family is when you are begrudgingly dragged to church on Sunday. For those without families, you drink the equivalent of a months rent on a normal weekend. Why are you still renting when you drink alcohol by the drum full every weekend? This all sounds like I am directing blame at a particular person but all I can get disappointed by is the culture. Culture is one of the hardest things you can try to change as its deep in everyone's blood. I could blame culture but cost of living has a part to play in it. In this day and age, a household can not survive on one income. The kids need a PlayStation 4, dad needs a new set of tyres for his Prado and mum uses imported weaves and make up.
All this sounds like I am just ranting but here is a question to all guys my age. Was your dad ironing his own shirts when he was your age?
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