Kids these days don't
know they're born.
Back in the bad old days grown ups would have to
wait until they hit at least their mid forties before they were
granted the reprieve from the responsibilities of adulthood known in
clinical parlance as the Mid-Life Crisis. Counting down the days
until they could blow all their savings on rent boys and the kind of
beverages that are so fancy they demand a tiny umbrella to shelter
under, they would drift through the mundane activities of every day
life while the wife that sat opposite them at the dinner table began
to look more and more like a stranger and the idea of stabbing her in
the face with a fork when she asked if you'd taken the bins out for
the fiftieth time became an increasingly attractive prospect, if only
to add a little spice to Pork Chop Thursday.
The meal that says 'I don't love you anymore.' |
Fast-forward to 2012
and a generation of stunted adolescent-adults
stand, trembling, on the cusp of
entering the mysterious and terrifying realm of the Grown Ups. Albeit
several years too late. Way back when, your grand-pappy would have
been working the mines aged six and dead from the black lung aged 11,
having spawned an expanse of spiteful progeny to fight over who gets
to marry mam now the old man's popped his clogs. At the funeral, with
lowered eyes, his survivors – the under-10's – would discuss in
whispers what a long and lucky life he had lived. Things were
different back then. Some might say better.
This generation of
stunted adult-children are luckier than any of their ancestors had
ever dared to believe. Thanks to advances in medicine and the art of
keeping people alive even when they're pretty much over this whole
'living' thing, those coming of age in these brave new times can look
forward to not only one but two,
three if you're lucky and rich enough, crises in which you are
entirely justified to spend all your cash on coke and whores and
Topshop shoes.
The phrase YOLO – You
Only Live Once for the uninitiated or those who can't hear internet
acronyms uttered in real life (IRL) over the low-level screaming that
rattles around their skulls whenever they're put into close proximity
to any one under the age of 18 – is bandied about a lot these days
and with good reason. You do
only live once, so forget planning for the terrifying black hole of
your future and concentrate on getting good and fucked up before you
have to spend your thirties working a job you hate to save up enough
money for when you hit middle age and are rightfully entitled to
another total breakdown blow out, this time with a spouse and
dependent children waiting for you on the stairs as you stumble in at
6 A.M stinking of sambucca shots and sexual frustration because you
are old and fat and no one will fuck you unless you pay them and even
then it's doubtful you'll get it up.
So stop being a
cry-baby loser and go out and boff a hooker, dickhead.