The Wisdom of Youth
When we think about young people, in general, we tend to think of their errors — their naiveté, their recklessness, their pretensions, etc. — however, we fail to see the ways in which young people are perhaps wiser than the aged.
I argue that young people are generally wiser than adults in some important ways. This wisdom may stem partially from the fact that young people have not yet been fully indoctrinated and broken by society, and in the sense that they seem to understand that life is to be enjoyed to the fullest. Yes, they are prone to mistakes because they lack life experience, but they intuitively know that adults have become neurotic with worries. They can see from the careworn faces of adults that they are beaten down — trampled in the rat race for money and status.
Most adults are miserable. They desperately clamor for status to impress others, or to prove that they are normal or successful. The happy marriage, the good job, the big house, or even the special attention and sympathy that comes with victim status — these things become an obsession for so many adults.
Young people — if they haven’t already been brainwashed by the dominant culture, or toxic subcultures — tend to laugh at these pursuits, and would much rather just be having fun with their friends. (Note: Yes, status games tend to start in the teenage years — due to the prison-like…
