Do you look back on your youth and think you lacked depth you now have?

[nytemare]

Things I did when I was younger I know think are so cliched and lacking in depth now. I don't think I lacked it altogether, but I did in some of my taste in music, how I viewed religion, politics, many things.

When you look back at yourself, do you see the same?

[LincolnMcGrath]

1. "look back on your youth"

How far back?

[nytemare]

5. Well, for me I would say to my late teens/early adulthood.

I was naive, and figured that everything should just work. It took me a while to really figure out that the human element makes it so things can't work.

[enigmatic]

2. I'm ALOT more laid-back now..

Back then I was intense w/ a captial I...

[nytemare]

7. I used to worry about stuff

Now, I just do what I can, and realize I need to leave it at that.

[LastKnight]

3. oh hell yea.

isnt that what growin up is about?

even from just a year or two ago i notice a big change.... ive had some major changes in life though too, so its not like im a different person every year.

[nytemare]

8. Funny thing is, most major changes in my life I made after 25.

I changed religion, understood preference, everything, after age 25.

Yes, that is what growing up is about.

[LastKnight]

10. didnt say i was done.

honestly i hope im not, i may be, i may not. i like this whole added depth thing.

[nytemare]

13. We should never be done, really.

There are always things to learn.

:)

[Melodybe]

4. I used to think that Bob Marley sucked and Che Guevara wasn't important

I was sooo stupid! I thought, "No Woman, No Cry" was a song about how it's great to not deal with chicks. Damn, if I had only opened my ears and listened to the lyrics I would have been a lot cooler at a lot younger an age.

And Che, my hero. My man of the people, a voice for third worlds like none before or after. I was so stupid. I totally bought into the corporate media's view of him, I was so wrong.

In short, I'm much deeper at 27 than I was at 17 or 21 or 23.

Better looking too.

I'm like wine, I get better with age.

[nytemare]

12. I viewed much purely in black and white

I was, I would say a "Kennedy Democrat". JFK died many years before I was born, but I just knew I wanted to be a dem like him. I believed that if it was Dem, it was good. There was nothing you could say or do to make me change my mind.

Now, I see that there is some danger in not looking at what you are voting for, and that extremism in anything needs to be avoided. I consider myself moderate, but, strangely enough, since Bush took office and all the politics took such a hard right, I may be viewed as more liberal.

Every group has its good and bad, I suppose.

[rawtribe]

6. Regrets, I've had a few,,,,

But then again to few to mention.


:smoke:

[ismnotwasm]

9. No, but certainly lacked wisdom

I was stupid, not shallow. I tried to be "deep" to figure things out--I think many young people do. I'd read long books like War and Peace or hippie pieces like "Trout Fishing in America" I knew reagan was a puke, (I had a tee-shirt with a well drawn picture of him with his finger up his nose. The caption read "who picked this man" I ran the streets, met a lot of people made many bad choices. I've always had "bad" taste in music, but it's my taste. I still like punk and metal, and my only concession to age is a great appreciation for blues and bluegrass. Sometimes it's the opposite, as some folks age, they lose their drive, their passion to know, to give a shit. That's probably why we got that idiot for a president.

[nytemare]

14. Could be why we got him.

The internet is such a great tool. People look at FOX and think that is all there is to it. It is so easy to see what you are voting for now, we should not have an excuse. But, sad truth is that you are right.

[NawlinsNed]

11. My belly button is much deeper now

.. than it was when I was 15.

[Tallison]

15. Now (at 31) I simply recognize my lack of depth

[philosophie_en_rose]

16. No, but sometimes I wonder whether I'd like myself as an adult.

I wonder whether I would have disappointed to know how I turned out.

[evlbstrd]

17. Why, when I was your age...

Nah, I won't do that.
But, NO!
Viet Nam was raging. The Silent Majority finally made its voice heard, and it said "Hell, no." The National Guard shot students at Kent State. Nixon finally resigned as the result of a the cover up of a second rate burglary. It all looks so familiar now, but even more horrific.

[SarahB]

18. I was the most serious 20 year old in the universe.

Super responsible beyond human limits. Depth beyond depth. Supreme self-denial. Now, I try to live life a bit more balanced. It works better. :)

[nytemare]

21. Now that is sort of the way I was

I was Miss Christian, didn't understand why wherever you go, things end up bad. I had fun, but didn't get into trouble.

Now I consider myself Buddhist, and an optimistic realist.

[GalleryGod]

19. My Youth was Filled by Working in the Great Political Campaigns

of my time:patriot:

My Mom was a honcho in the State Democratic(NJ) Party so I met 'em all and participated in all the great fights.

My most poignant memory: RFK before an SRO crowd at Camden Convention Hall, April 1,1968:patriot: in 2 months he'd be gone.

I Was Sadly Mistaken..because
I thought that America and the World of Politics would be like that Forever..fighting the Good Fight and Winning for the People.:patriot:

[seemunkee]

20. Nah, I'm still pretty shallow

I have a problem with being a bit too self involved. My wife calls me on it often enough to help keep it in check.

[nytemare]

22. Self involved isn't always shallow.

:)

[u4ic]

23. I was born old

and am de-aging as I speak. :-)

I don't think I lacked depth, just life experience. But yes, older and wiser now.

[Nikia]

24. This question is rather thought provoking for me

At this point, it seems like my life has gotten out of control. I am trying to remember how I used to be when I was younger, when I was emotionally stronger and courageous. It is easy for me to think that I was better then. I was so much of a perfectionist though. Even though I would consider myself "tolerant", I really looked down on many people for not being smart, talented, "good", or accomplished. There are people who I know and like now who I would have never given the time of day.
I think that perhaps that is one of my main problems. I really haven't given up being a perfectionist, especially for myself, so my psyche is in conflict now that I am unable to meet my standards and question what "good" really is.