“You’ll have far better luck toughening yourself up than you ever will trying to take the teeth out of the world that is – at best – indifferent to you existence.” – Ryan Holiday in The Obstacle is the Way

Not all that long ago, I remember thinking a similar, but not so eloquent thought in college. At 23 years old, in a class called Communication and the Prison Industrial Complex, my thought was something like this, “When will she just shut the fuck up about being called a cunt? Move on. Yes, that was a nasty thing for him to say. He is an asshole. Or maybe you were just being a cunt? Either way, this isn’t your therapy session. Sticks and stones, remember.” But she didn’t stop and we all had to hear about the “misogyny” that “destroyed” her and made her feel insignificant. I wonder where she is now, eight years later. Is she OK? Has she left the house?

During those years there were special and sensitive Millennial Flowers all around me, discussing their victimhood, in the face of humanity. This wasn’t the beginning of the end – that happened a long time ago – let’s blame the love generation. But some of the kids in my classes had the teeth removed from life, by their parents and teachers, long ago, when they should have been forced to face his or her problems head on. In that particular class, I could almost watch them sit with a pacifier in hand, trembling in fear, as the teacher rambled on about things that were only pertinent to the teacher. Many of my liberal arts college classes seemed like a strange form of self-aggrandizing masturbation for people that were scared of the world around them and were lucky enough to have a system that caters to their needs.

Back in ’05 or ’06, I didn’t feel the majority of students I ran across were these late-breast-feeding ninnies. The silent majority ruled, silently, as the a sad college student used the class as therapy for being picked on during neglected childhoods and the bullies still haunt them to this day. Most of my fellow students were there to learn or at least do homework and get a degree. And that is why I still have hope in my generation.  I thought for a long time that I wasn’t really getting an education, but I was getting one in something I didn’t pay for. I was learning the harsh truth about regressive left thinking. I say regressive because this wasn’t progressive thought it was unlearning everything women’s suffrage and Civil Rights movement fought for. Condoning the world where people undermine their own autonomy and self-worth by inflating their ego is undoing progress and progressive thinking.

And the mighty stumble of a generation with incredible potential has only worsened from the looks of it. Now the kids have “safe places and trigger warnings.” Jesus! Soon enough the classes at a university will give you a participation ribbon instead of a grade. No diplomas, only hugs. You tried and that was good enough. No matter where you think the key to success lies – whether in the collective or individual – we did not get here and won’t go anywhere by begging for the universe to be kinder to us, and there is only so much human behavior you can control.

I went through my college tenure with a fair amount of help from my parents. They are supportive folks and let me live with them. But I still paid for my tuition as I went and I worked full time. So, listening to young adults complain about the way the world is made me angry. How dare they waste mine and others students’ time on their personal problems? What the fuck are they going to do out in the real world? Bosses and coworkers that don’t need safe places are going to step on these special flowers. These children of frailty will need to medicate with Xanax or whatever because they just couldn’t take it. We will (and already do) have a Brave New World. Huxley was right. Being so self-absorbed is only going to get you fired in the business world. If you waste your boss’ time talking about your personal life when business is being conducted or you need a safe space after facing criticism it is only a matter of time before they figure out how to get rid of you because you aren’t contributing to the betterment of the company.

If I could go back in time I would love to walk up to that girl and smack the paper out of her hand. I would watch her eyes fill up with tears and horror, and I would tell her, that despite what Grammy Johnson says, she is not that important. I am not that important. No one is that important to blatantly waste other people’s time instead of doing some reflection and analysis on their own. Oh, and I would probably call her a cunt just for good measure, just to her shatter her world some more. Ha.

Despite my seemly high and mighty position on this issue, when I graduated, I entered the real world thinking that I should have a good job out the gate. I hadn’t put in the effort but I felt somehow robbed for not getting mine. I hadn’t earned anything or suffered enough. These things happen. So, I had an inflated sense of self-worth at the beginning of real life too. I was entitled. But I was cured of that by rejection. I would like to think that I am better for thinking my farts smelled like roses, realizing soon after, that it was sarin gas the whole time. But I worry the kids coming up have been strangled by their baby bonnets and it will stall the possibility of increasing freedoms and productivity as we move into the future.

The girl I speak of was getting away with victimizing herself. No one was stopping her. They were encouraging her. I hope someone stepped on her in the early years of her career. I would like to think that no one could get all of the teeth out, and at some point life bit down hard, with just that one tooth getting to her heart, changing her forever. That would be a good thing for young men and women to learn now and to pass on.

But in all reality, she is probably much more successful than me. It is a good possibility she has children that she dotes over constantly and they will grow up to complain in rooms full of people that don’t care and the cycle will continue. In that case, I hope they find their safe space and commit suicide in it. I’m just kidding. But seriously, it took millions of year to get here, people died for our right to be free humans, and these people are cowering under an umbrella of arrogance and it doesn’t need to be this way. We will be better at improving our society and destroying real misogyny and homophobia and racism and other nasty human creations if we don’t caudle our youth and ourselves and let the human race down.