What were you doing at age 25?

[Brickbat]

I'm starting this at the suggestion in another thread. And some of these ideas I've picked up from other threads.

I'm getting fed up with the way the O'Keefe break-in is being treated by the media -- and now the judge. It's a youthful prank, a dumb stunt, a clumsy attempt at edgy journalism. The four guys were just "messing with" the phones. And now, with the judge saying O'Keefe must live "with his parents" because he didn't provide his own address, he's being relegated back to a child. And the more he's treated as a child, the more what he did can be treated as a child's mistake.

As other posters pointed out on other threads, O'Keefe is two years older than the alleged underwear bomber, he's a year older than Lee Harvey Oswald was at the time of his death.

Where were you at 25? I had just returned to the States after working in Russia almost two years and was about to get married. There's been a lot said about the growing lack of responsibility among 20- to 30-year-olds, with a lot of chit-chat about the causes: Lack of jobs forcing adult offspring to live with their parents, lack of direction in this nation reflected in aimless, louche perpetual adolescents. While I think the hand-wringing is overstated (I'm a GenXer, I've heard it all before), I think O'Keefe is a fine example of it. You don't have to have written the Great American Novel by 25, but don't most people feel like they're at least firmly on the path toward adulthood by then?

Treating him like a child might be an "indignity," but it also reinforces the idea of him as a mischievous man-kid who was just having some fun, and the more it goes on, the more I expect the consequences he faces to reflect that. Which is a terrible mistake.

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. My eldest child was born one week after my 25th birthday

So I certainly didn't have time for childish pranks.

[VAliberal]

72. At 25 I was married w/ 2 young children

Both my wife and I were working and I was graduating from seminary with a Masters.

25 year old men attempting to gain false or unlawful entry to a federal office in order to corrupt the communication system are not 'boys' pulling 'pranks.'

[EFerrari]

117. Two kids, working fulltime and going to school fulltime.

Pranks, no so much. :)

[roguevalley]

130. working teaching first graders and preparing to go to Europe for

vacation. :)

[CBR]

2. You are correct.

I was the Executive Director of a nonprofit at 25. Got married at 25. Anyone who claims O'Keefe is just a kid is ridiculous.

[Maru Kitteh]

3. That was the year I purchased my first home. I had a toddler and a full time job.

I was working my way into management.


25 is not a child.

[corpseratemedia]

4. working f/t and getting my work ready for grad school

[SallyMander]

5. Totally agree -- i was halfway through my PhD

Sure, you continue growing as a person past 25 -- but hopefully that's true past 35, 55, and 75 as well!

[Fresh_Start]

9. In a career where my mistakes could cost lives

not just dollars

[struggle4progress]

63. I was working on a doctorate, too

[Missy Vixen]

6. I wasn't breaking into a US Senator's office to bug her phones

I was too busy working full-time and staying OUT of trouble...

:eyes:

[Dennis Donovan]

7. Lee Harvey Oswald was only 24...

...never heard HIM described as a "kid".:shrug:

[Brickbat]

14. I have to say I was shocked when I heard LHO's age in another thread.

I had thought he was older.

[HughBeaumont]

8. Working a minimum wage job and in the last year of school.

That was pretty much all a college student could do in 1994, thanks to Reagan and Bewsh I screwing the economy all to hell. It wouldn't recover until around the end of the year.

[supernova]

10. I was enjoying my first year of married life

My birthday is in the summer. I had gotten married to my then longtime sweetheart the previous December. I was working for a trade association inside the beltway and commuting to a tiny third floor walk up apartment in the Maryland suburbs. My husband was a grad student at U of MD.

We weren't rich, but we were tending to our responsibilities and looking toward the future. We also volunteered for the MD Dem party A LOT.

[no_hypocrisy]

11. I was an assistant teacher at a Montessori preschool in Ridgewood, New Jersey.

My first teaching gig. I only made $175 weekly. Very soothing atmosphere for both students and teachers. We didn't have a lot of money but plenty of spirit. The kids were great with a couple of exceptions. (Let's say they were "Montessori material".)

[Gidney N Cloyd]

12. Same as now but I was doing it at least 3 - 4 times a week. nt

On edit, I have got to start reading past the subject lines...

[Ishoutandscream2]

13. Second year of working in the education profession

Making 17000 a year and thinking I was on cloud nine economically! The times, they are a'changing.

[AngryAmish]

15. Lawyer

[seabeyond]

16. working. paying bills. being single. playing. nt

[Dappleganger]

17. Working my ass off at two different jobs.

[Robb]

That was the year I closed my business

...To be accurate, a bar. But still. Made and lost a bunch of money. Spent that year rather dependent upon friends, doing odd work for a week's rent, etc. Was thankful I knew a trade, let me tell you.

I knew, that year, down to the penny how much the cheapest burrito at the corner joint cost. $1.26. Still remember.

[Lyric]

18. Living in miserable Appalachian poverty

with a 5-year-old to raise, a minimum-wage job as a grocery store cashier, and no real hope of anything better--ever. Thank goodness I was wrong about the hope part.

[Dappleganger]

Ok, now I demand you tell your story!

[Ganja Ninja]

19. Working full time at GM.

After spending 4 years in the Navy.

[cherokeeprogressive]

81. Now that's funny. I worked full time at GM BEFORE spending my time in the Navy.

When the South Gate, CA plant closed in 1981, I was working there full-time. That very day, I stopped at the recruiter's office on my way home.

^5 Shipmate!

[Roland99]

20. Working in my career and putting my daughter into kindergarten.

[Brickbat]

21. Man, you people are all so SERIOUS! There were pranks to be had, senators to be gotcha'd, and

peeps to be messed with at 25! What a bunch of fuddy-duddies y'all are!

:sarcasm:

[struggle4progress]

64. Some of us worked our pranks in our high school years and then grew up

[Brickbat]

67. My point exactly.

[juajen]

22. I was married, working and about to adopt two children. NT

[zazen]

23. remember Henry Hyde's "youthful indiscretion"--his extramarital affair at 40?

It came out during the Clinton impeachment trial. I'm not surprised by these rationalizations. I think it's also more regularly rationalized with white men. Barbara Walters said something about how, being the same age as Dan Rather, he was called the "brash young kid" of journalism at age 42, while she was called the "Grande Dame."

[Brickbat]

26. VERY true.

Race, class and sex have a lot to do with it as well.

[geardaddy]

24. Very good post

I was married just back from Taiwan and working as a technical writer.

[jotsy]

25. Feeling like the driver of my own car. Where is this too young to know any better crap

when it comes to the less than affluent? This idiot thinks he's a right wing Yes Man. To know that one of the four is the son of a US Attorney speaks to much more agenda than simple pranks.

[tsstranger]

27. At 25?

It was 1975, I was divorced, my divorce was paid off, I had a great paying job, a '68 GTO, a '72 Monte Carlo, a '55 Panhead, I was dating a Playboy Bunny from the San Francisco club, snow skiing in the winter, water skiing in the summer and absolutly enjoying life.

But I wasn't a kid anymore. Not by a long shot.

[Throd]

28. Drinking heavily, playing guitar in a punk band, and trying to bang everything in sight.

[KatyMan]

33. Glad I'm not the only one! :)

smoking dope a lot, working a decent job, playing guitar, hanging out. But, straightened up and got married a year later after meeting Mrs Katyman. :)

[tinrobot]

29. Frantically finishing college so I could support my first child.

Becoming a parent really forces you to be responsible.

[niyad]

30. working full-time, and running a women's center, and lobbying in state capitols for women's issues,

as well as being on the boards of two battered women's shelters.

oh, and dealing with a ptsd/agent orange vet spouse.

that these four thugs are being treated like merry little pranksters is making me ill.

[Brickbat]

32. Clearly, you should have been trying to BREAK INTO the legislators' offices, instead of trying to

LOBBY them. SHEESH. :eyes:

Thanks for your work. :hi:

[niyad]

42. and thank you for your kind words. I KNOW--silly me, thought that actually talking to our public

servants might accomplish something useful, like the displaced homemakers' bill-- but what did I know??

thank you for taking up the suggestion--a fascinating snapshot into some of the wonderful people here with whom we spend our time.

a tip of the chapeau to all of you wonderful, wonderful, hardworking souls here on DU.

[gkhouston]

31. In grad school, and I'd long since stopped being a child.

Actually, when I was in middle school, one of my teachers asked me if I'd ever been in trouble with the law. She thought I was too mature. :shrug:

[Arkansas Granny]

34. I was married and had two children when I was 25.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

35. I was in graduate school, living on $300 a month with two roommates

That was the year I started studying for my major comps (the all-day written exam in my field of concentration) while carrying a full course load.

[LiberalEsto]

36. Working at a daily newspaper

It was my first reporter job at a daily, after working at two weeklies. I worked nightside, from 6 pm to 2 am, Sunday through Thursday. This was in 1977.

At the time I was married to my first husband, a huge mistake. We divorced a few years years later. We lived in a crummy apartment and were saving for a down payment on a house.

[Froward69]

37. Starting my own business as I could not find work under Bush sr.

[Jennicut]

38. I was married, bought a house, got a new job. The year was 2001.

Watched 9/11 happen and had to a help a friend whose sister almost died in the Pentagon. Worked at calling center that had New York City clients and had to explain to that service was out for cable because the tower on the World Trade Center fell. It was a great and tough year at the same time. I was definitely an adult, not a kid.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

39. 1969. Working at the post office, going to college, protesting the war in Vietnam.

[Bicoastal]

40. Three years ago?

Finishing my first year of Grad School, and starting to work on my very first musical.

[pscot]

41. Guarding the Fulda Gap

against an onslaught by 80 East German division. In a manner of speaking.

[Bluenorthwest]

43. At 25

I bailed others out of jail, not the other way around.

That year, heroes of mine came knocking on my door and the icons of the future came crawling through my windows, at all hours, unannounced but always welcome. It was a year when big checks cleared, large rows were sewn, when barriers fell and bridges seemed to build themselves. But who's counting?

[guruoo]

44. Working for the city, going to school, starting a business, and campaigning...

for a friend that was running for city council.

And in my spare time....

[Faux pas]

45. Raising a 3 yr old and 1 yr old and living in the second house

my husband and I had bought. By 27 was a single mother and working my ass off to raise my kids by myself. That was during the wild 70's, had no problem being responsible.

bush the younger was a 'fine' example of not taking responsibility for the nation's youth for 8 years. So, you figure from age 13 to 21 o'keefe had to have gotten the idea that anything goes. If his parents were bushies, the kid had no chance to learn anything different. Not making excuses for the dolt because the time comes when you pick and choose for yourself what's right and what's bs. By 15 i'd figured out that about 50% of what my parents preached was either wrong or useless.

[HipChick]

46. Working 2 jobs,trying to put myself through school,escape from a bad marriage

[Elwood P Dowd]

47. Just finished my 2-year US Army hitch

and went back to work in the real world.

[tridim]

48. Working my ass off for a corporation that actually treated their employees well.

And that was only 14 years ago. Amazing how things change when Republicans are in charge.

[Donnachaidh]

49. working and training race horses

And my first job was at 14, eleven years previous to that.

[GoCubsGo]

50. I was in grad school.

Working my ass off under the she-bitch from hell.

I understand what you're getting at regarding O'Keefe and those of his age range. My niece will be 25 in a couple of weeks. She has her own place, but "Mommy" still pays for many of her groceries and does her laundry. Her mother (my sister) lives in the same apartment complex. My niece does work and go to school, but she still has a lot more growing up to do than I did at her age.

[madrchsod]

working in a steel forge shop...

union
free health insurance
cost of living every 3 months
7+incentive averaged about 10-12 an hour
miss 10% each quarter without penalty

middle class job and wages all disappeared by 1980

[bikebloke]

51. Working a full-time dead end job.

A year later, I went traveling in hopes of starting a new life in Europe. Then ended up in Israel working on a kibbutz.

[closeupready]

52. I was self-supporting, and never moved back home or supplemented

my income with an allowance from mommy and daddy - I paid for everything myself. Had a full-time job and let me think, I was working for a non-profit - I was just coming off of three months of unemployment and found another job (at the non-profit). Didn't pay much, but it was enough to survive and save some money and move on with my life, eventually.

[AndyA]

53. When I was 25, I was fulfilling my lifelong dream of lying to get into a Congress person's

office so I could tap their telephones as a joke.

I wanted to see if they were treating their constituents with the respect they deserve. It's the dream of most people in their mid-twenties, searching for the reason of life, right?

You got a problem with that?

:rofl:

[Rambis]

54. Working to support my Grateful Dead habit

worked a dead end mail room job so I could tour two weeks a year. Alas there ain't no place a man can hide that will keep him from the sun.
The darkness has not given yet.:cry:

[Tailormyst]

55. I was the mother of 3

And dealing with a very sick youngest child.

[a la izquierda]

56. Getting my MA and working 40 hours a week...

it was only 7 years ago.

[Neecy]

57. I was living in Orlando

I had just been promoted to station manager for a domestic airline for our small base there. I made good money, had a great job, wouldn't dream of bugging the office of a US Senator.

[AspenRose]

58. At colleges these days, 25 is the cutoff age for "traditional aged students"

(undergrad, that is)

[Misskittycat]

59. Working full time so I could go to law school at night. n/t

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

60. Developing security software. Yes, for MS-DOS.

Ahhh, good times.

[eridani]

61. In graduate school n/t

[hunter]

62. I hadn't quite graduated from college yet.

I was in some kind of trouble again, geez, I don't even remember what for, and I was talking to the dean of the college who knew me very well when he said, "I think you should go on to graduate school, BUT NOT HERE!"

It sounded like a threat actually -- like he would do everything in his power to keep me out, no matter who I got recommendations from, no matter what my test scores were, no matter who wanted me.

He was absolutely right about leaving the university. But I've yet to get my graduate degree. I moved away and raised a family instead. If I'd stayed there I'd have become a bigger kind of crazy than I am.

Even at my very worst I was never a deceitful, unethical, shitbag, racist, snorting outhouse pig of a young adult like O'Keefe.

This guy deserves some serious adult time in court, and by every appearance of the circumstances of this crime, some serious adult time behind bars.

[Blue_In_AK]

65. I was living in a tipi in the Panamint Mountains

with a bunch of hippies. The summer before my 25th birthday (in 1971), we had bought a 24-foot kit tipi from a place up in Southern Washington, and I had sewn it up on a treadle sewing machine while we were living in the woods near Takilma, Oregon. We cut and trimmed the poles ourselves. When it got so cold and rainy in Oregon in the fall, we packed everything up in a U-Haul and took it down to the desert.

A lot of other stuff happened to me in that year between my 25th and 26th birthdays, including the birth of my first daughter.

Judging from other responses here, I was a bit different.

[uppityperson]

156. You are similar to many of us, taking care of yourself, living on your own, making the world

a better place. The next yr is when I gave up "respectability" and went to the woods for a couple yrs to figure out what I wanted to do. Still took care of myself though, like you did.

That sounds very cool.

[Hello_Kitty]

66. Spot on. eom

[Lex]

68. Busting my arse in law school.

[MoonRiver]

69. Married, pregnant and in grad school

Talk about a full plate!

[Golden Raisin]

70. Earning and paying my own

rent on a tiny Manhattan studio (you could get one in 1974) and working a low-paying, fulltime job.

[MUAD_DIB]

71. I was out of college, earning a living: all without breaking the law.

[hobbit709]

73. Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll

[tsstranger]

135. Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll

Dope, Sex and Cheap Thrills. :)

[abq e streeter]

74. This is embarrassing what with almost everyone else having been fully functioning adults

by 25....I was playing music full time; often 6 nights a week for just enough money to live the extended teenager life I aspired to...Stoned virtually 24/7, and drunk fairly often too. Various short-term girlfriends and one night stands...and living with a bunch of other guys in sort of an "Animal House" ( but more "hippie-ized") atmosphere. But DID support myself, if just barely. But also had the brains to know who the good guys and bad guys were politically.

[Blue_In_AK]

78. You and I seem to be in a distinct minority here.

But wasn't it fun?

[abq e streeter]

86. yeah it was definitely fun, although it certainly all caught up with me eventually.

[Brickbat]

80. Yeah, I didn't necessarily want people to feel embarrassed by what they were doing at 25.

Unless, of course, they were running back to Mommy and Daddy's house because the big bad Democrats were saying breaking and entering was wrong. You clearly were having fun, but it was self-supported fun. I have to say that if I had to post what I was doing at, say, age *23*, instead of 25, my answer would have been very, very different. ;)

[abq e streeter]

85. That's OK, if I was really embarrassed I wouldn't have posted. It WAS a hell of a lot of fun

But I also really was a late bloomer in regards to being a "grown -up". Hell, I'm in my 50's and still don't completely feel like one. Not having nearly as much fun though--no girlfriend for the past year ( and the days of groupies are ancient history), don't drink or get high....jeez, I'm a boring old fart! But in honor of the old days::toast:

[Brickbat]

89. Those were the days, my friend; we thought they'd never end!

I hear you. :toast:

[abq e streeter]

103. Ah, the stories I could tell if I remembered 'em

We were the house band at what had to have been one of the wildest bars in the U.S... I really can't think of anything, and I mean ANYTHING, that you couldn't do in there. The owners had to have been paying off the cops cuz it never got busted.

[GreenPartyVoter]

75. Was busy being preggers with my first child.

[Rebubula]

76. 25?

Not really sure what I was doing....

Did see A LOT of Grateful Dead shows....so maybe that accounts for the memory holes.

But seriously....lots of drugs, alcohol and as much sex as I could get (which was far too little...lol).

[KittyWampus]

77. Working 4-5 jobs, one of which was my own small landscaping business.

[ellie]

79. I was partying it up

25 was a very fun year for me.

[Initech]

116. Yup, same here. Had some good fucking times that year.

[Raine]

149. I wasn't partying it up exactly but I was going to school,

living with my parents and looking in bars to find a boyfriend. }(

[Fleshdancer]

82. wife, mother, went back to college....

I can't believe I wasted my "youth" being a productive member of society when I should have been committing felonies. That'll teach me to not look up to Karl Rove as a hero. :eyes:

[Confusious]

83. You can have "youthful indiscretions"

up til the day you die, if your a repuglican. Age is no factor.

[Javaman]

84. I was a full time on air tech at cable vision. nt

[laylah]

87. I was living in Manitou Springs

enjoying life...:hippie: :smoke: spelunking, laughing, and enjoying my new found freedom. I was a sheltered child, I was experiencing life to its' fullest. I certainly was NOT trying to sabotage my government :patriot: , wiretapping ANYONE, spewing hateful bullsh*t, or hating my country/President.

[MountainLaurel]

88. Trying to pay off student loans

Working as an editorial contractor for the Department of Justice.

[Joe Fields]

90. I was travelling all throughout the country.

Met a lot of very interesting people along the way. Gave me a great perspective into humanity.

[moondust]

91. Top Secret clearance working in U.S. intelligence.

[Lochloosa]

98. So you were also breaking into phone closets?

:evilgrin:

[moondust]

109. LOL.

Strictly communist military and government intel. :patriot:

[Ikonoklast]

92. Married, with one child and one on the way.

Had a mortgage and a wife, and was working as department head with multi-million dollar sales, highest gross profit, net profit, and sales per man hour in the entire chain.

I hadn't been a 'child' since I went to work full-time while still a junior in high school.

[asjr]

93. Bemoaning and cursing my first year of marriage.

[Echo In Light]

94. Drumming in bar/club underground metal band

[ddeclue]

95. Working on the Space Shuttle Program at Kennedy Space Center.

[Liberal In Texas]

177. That's what one of my sons was doing at 25. Still is.

(He's at JSC)

[sinkingfeeling]

96. I was divorced and the mother of a 5 year-old, working and had started my

30 year career at IBM. I had owned my own home for almost 4 years, although my dad was required to co-sign my mortgage because i was a single woman.

[Eric Condon]

97. I'm 24 and I'll tell you what I'm doing now

Still living at home, looking for a job, freelance writing for pennies. And if you think that's unusual for 25 year olds in this day and age, then you've got another thing coming.

I have a decent cushion saved up from my last job so my parents aren't "supporting" me per se. But I'm sensing a lot of typical Boomer self-righteousness in this thread, so I wanted to set the record straight. Things have changed since you guys were 25 and actually had opportunities to better yourselves. Nowadays, the place you are in your life at 25 is more like what 18 used to be. It doesn't make us "immature." It's just a product of the times. The WWII generation probably thought you guys were lazy and stupid for protesting Vietnam instead of raising kids at 20.

I'm not in any way defending the actions of O'Keefe and these other morons. I'm just explaining that just because some of us still live at home and aren't working our asses off doesn't make us spoiled brats. For people born post-Reagan, the whole American Dream bootstraps stuff has always seemed like a crock of shit, so forgive me if I'm not buying into the mythos of it right now.

[Brickbat]

104. I was hoping my OP wouldn't come across that way,

and I could have worded it better. I know times are tough and there are many who are in the same circumstances as you. I don't want to imply that living at home automatically makes you an extended adolescent. I do think it's too bad that the country's economic situation is being used by many to delay self-responsibility. I do NOT think that it's an automatic reaction by everyone.

On the other hand, this isn't a Boomer-only thread. I'm a GenXer, I graduated from college during the recession of the early 90s, and was full of despair about finding a job and supporting myself. Many of us didn't fall into our 25-year-old responsibilities; we worked hard to get them. This does not mean you are not working hard to get them.

[crispini]

107. I graduated from college in 1990

Recession? What recession? I just went into the Peace Corps. :D

[abq e streeter]

108. can only speak for myself, but I would never judge you.

I do understand the severely diminished opportunities of post-Reagan America.And it sucks big time, and any frustration and bitterness on your part is completely understandable. And some of "our" older generation thought a lot less of us than just lazy and stupid. They hated us with a white-hot passion for the changes we tried to make and the ideals we tried to live up to . Now in my 50's, I still feel shocked at how much hatred we became a lightning rod for, for just trying in our innocent, imperfect way, to try to get the rest of America to live up to its supposed ideals. And I hope that does not smack of "self-righteousness " to you; only my take on the decency of what many boomers received so much hatred for trying to accomplish in our youths. I personally am furious at what Reagan and post-Reagan America did to you and countless others,and have fought against them as best I could, and never ever would presume to think I, or any of us, are one iota "better" than you, who like many of your generation, are still struggling through absolutely no fault of your own. I sometimes don't express myself as clearly as I intend to, so I hope you've taken this reply in the attitude of support and respect with which it was intended.

[Eric Condon]

136. I think I might have come off as more bitter than I wanted to

when what I was really aiming for was just understanding. I wasn't really talking about anyone in particular and certainly not the OP specifically or anything, I was just getting kind of a "I'd hunkered down and was raising a family at 25, not like today's lazy kids" vibe from some of the responses.

I have nothing but respect for the sea changes that the Boomers were able to help usher in. But I think a lot of Boomers have lost sight of how much society has changed, and they take it out on us. For instance, I feel like a lot of Boomer DUers take my generation to task for not protesting and marching in the streets and and the like, not realizing that there's a reason why that once seemed viable and why it doesn't today.

In the 60s you had leaders like JFK and LBJ and the country still at least made pretenses of belonging to the people. My generation has never had that. Sure, we get platitudes about America's resilience and possibilities and all that, but those of us angry enough to actually be protesting anything are capable of seeing through all that. A president like Johnson was certainly flawed on Vietnam, but he obviously was right on other issues and had the capacity to acknowledge complexity, so it stood to reason that maybe protesting would get a message across. But for us, it was never like "maybe if we take to the streets enough, Bush will see the error of his ways." If we protested too much, the most that would've happened is we would've been arrested. And if there was once honor in going to jail for your convictions, that honor is only as good as its ability to inspire others, and today, no one would have been telling our story. We would've just been more grist for the prison industrial complex mill.

Lots of the problems we face today are the same as the ones Boomers faced as young people in the 60s. But we don't have a JFK. We don't have a Cronkite. We don't have a Dylan. And we don't have an MLK.

I'm not talking about anyone in particular, but I think in the grand scheme of things, Boomers have gotten to be just as judgmental as their parents and twice as selfish. My generation (I'm younger, but I'm generally including myself in Generation X since my parents are Booomers) are just as selfish as the Booomers and twice as complacent. It's a vicious cycle that we all need to work together to stop.

[abq e streeter]

143. Thank you for your thoughtful and intelligent reply

I'm sorry you have been encountering judgmental and "twice as selfish" boomers. Again, I can speak from nothing but my own experience, but while I certainly know some people of my generation who are like that, most of my acquaintance are not , especially the selfish part; the judgmental part is I think, a part of every generation since cavemen were riding dinosaurs with Jesus 6,000 years ago ( P.S. GET OFF MY LAWN____DAMN KIDS TODAY!). (and BTW,I'm right in the middle of the boomer years; H.S. class of '68--a hell of a year to be spit out into the world). I'd say 80 , maybe 90 % of the people I know of a similar age as myself have in basic ways "kept the faith' and are generous progressive people. But again, with so much acrimony and insults replacing dialog on DU lately, it's my pleasure to have exchanged opinions respectfully with you. I'm honored to be on the same side as you, my younger fellow DUer. You have my understanding of your circumstances and more of that same understanding ( I hope anyway) from us "boomers" than you might think , from your apparently too-often negative experiences. Best wishes to you on your life eventually being everything you want it to be.

[corpseratemedia]

141. just for the record

I don't think that way at all. I saw it happening when asshole reagan got elected when I was 16. Everything started in our economy started to shrink for the middle,working class and poor. I think generally the people on this thread are not putting your situation down, they're putting the elders who are making asinine excuses for him down - showing how nefarious what he was doing really was (sorry bad grammar).

lol what you say about other generations I've seen with my parents (who were a generation apart themselves).

I'm actually glad your generation sees that bootstraps propaganda for what it was, it was a NIGHTMARE to have to listen to my fellow students barf this idiotic crap out in school like hitler youth.

[abq e streeter]

144. George Carlin: they call it the American dream 'cause you have to be asleep to believe it.

[Hello_Kitty]

147. Actually it's we Gen Xers who are annoyed.

Though we were often characterized as slackers, mine was the last generation of kids that were expected to help out around the house and to be at on the way to being competent, self-supporting adults by the time we were 21. I am shocked at the number of teenagers and young adults I see living at home who don't contribute financially and don't even do their own laundry! I'm not saying that describes you but you have to admit that I speak the truth about many of your peers. And most of your parents are Boomers, so it's their fault.

[uppityperson]

158. I see this as more of are you being responsible or hanging out on mom/dad.

I had friends who were the "hanging out" type even back when we had to walk to school barefoot through the snow.

If you are trying, are being responsible for yourself, taking responsibility for your actions, then it works. Most of us know how difficult it is to make enough to survive, to get into or through college, to get a job, to buy a house or even rent a place. But simply because times are different does not mean 25 yr olds should be treated as children, to not have to take responsibility for themselves.

I am glad the "american dream" of 2.1 kids, house in the burbs, 2 wks vacation yearly, etc is changing and will be glad when it grows past consume consume consume and manages to get back to what really counts (imho family, community, world citizenship).

[wickerwoman]

99. Going to grad school,

+ going to anti-war protests

+ teaching inner-city kids part-time

+ lived in Prague for a few months in the middle somewhere getting a teaching certificate

[asdjrocky]

100. Buying my first house.

Managing two bands and preforming weekly in another.

Also, I was AD for Ain't Misbehavin' at a local theatre and I was married with a daughter and I had a full time job.

Yeah, I was a grown up.

[Fire1]

101. Getting married, I think at 25 or 27. Don't remember. n/t

[unapatriciated]

134. Damn, how many anniversaries have you forgotten.

"Getting married, I think at 25 or 27. Don't remember ":rofl:

[Fire1]

151. My husband keeps track. n/t

[Liberal In Texas]

102. Just promoted to producer/director from associate director at the TV station

I had been working for for 5 years.

[crispini]

105. When I was 25, I'd just gotten out of the Peace Corps

and was teaching in China and traveling. I don't know if I was firmly on the path of adulthood or not, but I was certainly a grown and responsible human being.

[CRK7376]

106. At 25 I was a newly

commissioned 2LT in the Army trying to finish my last two years of college. I had already served 6 years as an enlisted soldier/NCO.

[KonaKane]

110. I was getting divorced, and relocating to another state

both acts tremendously benefitting me and launching a new and wonderful phase of my life.

I wasn't trying to break into Congresspeoples' offices. I learned when I was a kid, watching the Watergate hearings, that such a thing was not the best choice of a career path.

[caraher]

111. Working full-time, just bought a house, first son born that year

But people! You're forgetting that Republicans' ages are like dog years. How old was Henry Hyde when he had his own "youthful indiscretion," 41? 25 is still toddlerhood for those guys.

Of course, in recognition of this biological and developmental fact, perhaps registered Republicans should have a higher chronological age before being granted the vote. I think a minimum voting age of 40 would do represent the transition to adulthood, given their record on excusing the excesses of Republicans on the basis of immaturity.

[Edweird]

112. Living the wild life. Sex, Drugs and Industrial.

[Zoeisright]

113. Worrying about my husband who was ill. And it was cancer.

And O'Keefe is a bratty little baby.

[katandmoon]

114. At 25 I was a self-supporting government secretary w/my own apt. (In fact I worked for GSA.)

[SteppingRazor]

115. I was a music journalist for an altweekly.

That's pretty much all I can remember. :beer:

[MilesColtrane]

118. I was on a DOD tour of bases all over the world.

The military treated us great.

[SoCalDem]

119. I was making multiple trips a year to Mayo Clinic/St.Mary's hospital

in Rochester with a handicapped child..staying in a $6 motel room in January...for 5-6 weeks, while my husband stayed behind in Indiana so he could work (he visited on weekends).. This was accomplished on a less than $15K a year income..

The motel room was so cold, that the drippy faucet in the bathroom made a little ice skating rink in the sink..


I was a TOTAL "grownup" by the time I was 25... Of course I moved out on my own 5 months after I turned 18..

In the 60's & 70's "kids" did not live at home any longer than they had to..even if it meant sharing a crappy apartment with 3 or 4 people, and shopping at thrift stores & having a totally crappy (but paid for ) car..:)

[road2000]

120. At 25,

I was in my sixth year as a daily newspaper reporter. Smoked a lot of pot on the weekend, though. ;-)

[bamacrat]

121. Celebrating Obamas election.

So I'm 26 now but I lived in Alabama and had a job now I live in Texas and dont.

[Lugnut]

122. I was married with one child and had one on the way.

DH and I had a new home and two cars.

[upi402]

123. Buying rental property...

This guy, and his dad, know what time it is. Get ready for cover-up and media blackout.

[susanr516]

124. I was married with a 3yo child

and working full-time at AT&T.

[livetohike]

125. I was married for three years. Paying back student loans by

substitute teaching in the city of Pgh. while continued to apply everywhere for a full time teaching job. I was volunteering for three organizations then too - the Pittsburgh Free Clinic, The Radio Information Center for the Blind, and the Hill House (a non-profit organization in a low income area of the city).

[jmowreader]

126. I was in Berlin at the age of 25

I was a sergeant with soldiers working for me and a high government clearance.

Then again, I was never 25. I was 40 years old the day I was born.

On edit: Now, if you'd have asked me what I was doing at the age of 21...I was going into phone closets and tapping telephones, and I am NOT kidding. But I only tapped phones when the unit who owned the lines asked me to.

[dmr]

127. I was a responsible citizen

Married; homeowner; owned my own licensed business; hubby, a cop; owned a small business together; and both grieving the death of our infant daughter.

We were both working our asses off, and volunteering our time to help a battered women's shelter; a food pantry; Thanksgiving baskets and gifts from Santa. Together, he and I started a community garden which is still flourishing today - 30-some years later.

Funny, I was just talking about this last night with someone. What is this shit about making these 4 look like little boys pulling a prank?

I don't care how they, the GOP hucksters, are portraying these guys, or how they are trying to make this seem not as serious as it is. Two of those 4 men wore disguises! They dressed up for a reason, and they asked to see the telephone closet for a reason beyond trying to see how Landrieu's office acted over constituent's health care phone calls! Whether we ever know the real reason, I'll never believe they were there just for that.

Edit: punctuation

[Luciferous]

128. I was married and pregnant with my second child... it was only 3 years ago

I agree that they should not use age as an excuse for his bad behavior.

[scorpiogirl]

129. I was still single

and working as a Listing Secretary for a commercial real estate company. I actually made pretty good money at that time, about $36k. This was around '96-'97.

[hedgehog]

131. Working full time, living in my first house, married and pregnant with my first child.

Yep, i was just a kid back then.
:eyes:

[unapatriciated]

132. hell I was working two jobs to support my family at 23.

because their dad coudn't find work after getting out of the military (1975).

[renegade000]

133. Living in the future!

:party:

[rainbow4321]

137. Married, having 2nd baby and

Just finshed up working as a pediatric trauma unit nurse and was changing over to be a home health care nurse for patients living with HIV/AIDS.
And that was after I had gone thru 4 yrs of nursing schooi, had my first baby in between semesters and worked part time during the semester months,
fulltime in the summer breaks.

[grantcart]

138. I was working on refugee affairs in Thailand rejoicing the birth of my first child

edited to add that I had already finished an internship in the state legislature and graduate school.

[etherealtruth]

139. I was a wound care nurse and ...

... the mother of a five year old.

I had a mortgage and a car payment.

I was a responsible adult.

[sakabatou]

140. I have to wait 2 more years till I hit 25

[csziggy]

142. Got married on my 25th birthday, started two businesses in the next year

Bought property, took a trip across country as a "honeymoon".

[AlienGirl]

145. Raising two kids.

[Faygo Kid]

146. Married, daughter born exactly one month after my birthday.

My only one. Also working for the Boy Scouts for $11,000 a year in 1976, and not liking it. But, it was of a time. Marriage held intact until 1993, which is a pretty long time. No regrets.

[jonnyblitz]

148. I was working nuke weapons supply at Naval Air Station

Weapons Dept, Norfolk, VA. Interesting aside, I had to get a secret security clearance which required a background check yet they never discovered I was gay though I was "out and about" when off duty.

[Geek_Girl]

150. I got a divorce and moved across the country

nt

[tabasco]

152. In the Army for five years.

Unlike the criminal idiot phone tapper.

[TroglodyteScholar]

153. Was married 3 years and writing manuals for USAF aircraft maintenance

Guess we can't all be as important as Mr. O'Keefe at age 25.

[uppityperson]

154. Working as a nurse in a small hospital, med/surg/er/neonatal, all of it

Married, buying a house.

[scarletwoman]

155. I got married on my 25th birthday, pregnant with my first child who was born 5 months before my 26th

birthday. I'd already gotten through the most excessive sex-drugs-& rock'n'roll phase of my life, and my rock musician hubby and I got busy buying a house and finding regular work to support our little family.

Still did music, still had sex, still smoked plenty of weed -- but we had our shit together and did a damn good job of raising our kid.

[JHB]

157. Alexander the Great defeated the Persian Empire at 25...

...George Washington was somewhat less successful against the French.

[Mari333]

159. having a lot of sex as I recall

the good old days.

[Joe the Liberal]

160. I'm not even at 25 yet but I sure hope it's better than where my life is at now. n/t

[datasuspect]

161. I was hauling ass and getting paid

[Stinky The Clown]

162. Attempting to have carnal knowledge of as many women as walked the planet.

I was not successful.

[marmar]

163. I had already been working full-time for 3+ years and was living in Westchester County NY.....

nt

[AnnieBW]

164. I was two years into my Federal Career

You know, one of those scum-sucking Guvmint bureaucrats that don't let the "real 'Murkins" do anything. I was working a night shift protecting your butt from getting nuked. Have a nice day, asshole.

[JoeyT]

165. Three years in to

running a business I founded that had 40 employees. (That the recession ate in its entirety.) Trying to create another business. Helping my friends start businesses of their own. (Which the recession mostly ate.) Living with my parents because both had had recent surgeries that limited their mobility and they couldn't get around very well until they healed.
Certainly not bugging someone's phone and screaming about youthful indiscretion.

I think in my state the youthful offender cap is 22. I'm not sure about Louisiana or the federal laws on that.
I've got a feeling he's going to get a very light slap on the wrist. More of a tap really.
I agree that treating him as a child, however sharp a blow to his dignity it may be, is a huge mistake. He should be treated like a criminal. Far more so than a lot of the people that actually are treated as criminals.

[unhappycamper]

166. I was part of the Cambodian invasion in April 1970.

Not one of my better moments.......

[BlueCollar]

167. Wearing a Uniform serving my country...n/t

[Hekate]

168. After working my way through college, I was in grad school. Working. Don't remember any "pranks"...

These 4 thugs have been warped and corrupted by the Right Wing dirty tricks machine. None of them are children. They've all been working for years at whatever the hell it is they do -- junior CIA, gotcha "films" designed not to get at the truth but to ruin people's lives. I can't remember all the rest, but they were ALL well into career paths that involved lying like crazy, cheating others, and winning at all costs.

Is it too much for me to hope that they will be made an example of? Because if they skate on this, they will spend the rest of their lives boasting about what they do and collecting speaking fees from RW groups, just adding buckets more slime to the corruption of politics.

Hekate

[Thothmes]

169. When I was 25

I was a Ltjg in the U.S. Navy and the main propulsion assisstant on USS Meyerkord FF 1058. Married, no kids yet.

[PJPhreak]

170. Picking my self up off Interstate 285 in Atlanta...

It was the disastrous end to a wonderful 18 month tour of North America (Canada,U.S.,Mexico) on a Kawasaki 1100.Thanks to someone who thought that lane markers were for everybody else.

I walked away...The Bike wasn't so lucky...I never thought that a Kawasaki had So many Pieces,They don't hold up well after being run into multiple times at 70 mph...Quite the mess!

[Sisaruus]

171. Mother of 2, in college full-time & a part-time job

[old mark]

172. I was out of the Army after serving 3 years, playing in a band, and working a day job. nt

[Saphire]

173. Single mother raising my son.

[piratefish08]

174. Working 2 jobs with a 4 year old and another on the way.........

[WCGreen]

175. Heavy into my last year of full blown alcoholism...

[gkhouston]

180. Glad it was your last year.

:thumbsup:

[TransitJohn]

176. Transitioning from Grateful Dead Tour to brewing beer professionally.

Also, starting my geology degree and raising a newborn baby girl.

[hayu_lol]

182. Married with two kids, lived in Europe and worked as a...

symphony/opera musician.

[aikoaiko]

178. Hanging out in graduate school. the 90's were an awesome time to be in your 20s.

:beer:

[Rockholm]

179. Another Republican "Youthful Indiscretion." Sigh.

[madokie]

181. Trying to get laid as often as I could

How about you?
Tapping phones wasn't what I was trying to tap either. ;-)

To answer your question, I was fresh home and bug nutts from a war I shouldn't have been in and trying to stay alive and keep my sideburns too, to borrow a line from Leon Russell.

That last part about the sideburns, I'm serious as I've ever been. We had a cop in one of the towns we had to go through to get to the action that if you got stopped and had long hair, well it was you used to have long hair cause he'd arrest you and then when you were sent to the jail the jailer would give you the haircut, because they didn't want any lice in their blankets is the excuse they used. One of our local docs was a long hair and got pulled over while riding his bike 'harley' they gave him the same treatment. He sued but died before it came to trial, Good doc too, he was one of those people who, while in their late 40's, just up and died for no apparent reason.

[igfoth]

183. At 25 years of age

I was in the Navy,during the so-called Cold War, on board a Ballistic Missile Submarine protecting the freedoms of the the morons like O'Keefe, the teabaggers and the Reich Wing Idiots.

On the up side about 75% of the people I served with were liberal or liberal moderates, very few were rabid Reich Wingers.

[niyad]

185. welcome to DU

[ThatsMyBarack]

184. Watching the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Complete with the Olympic Park bombing.

[otohara]

186. I Had A Disastrous Fling w/ my Boss.

while working as the marketing director for record distributor back in the days when records ruled and CD's were something you bought at a bank.

The boss thing was a baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad idea - he turned out to be a super jerk.

[LWolf]

187. Raising 2 children, working part time, attending college part time. nt

[Forkboy]

188. Not much that I can admit to, as the statute of limitations is still in effect.

:evilgrin:

[Jankyn]

189. Just graduated the police academy...

...and started on patrol duty.

What a rude awakening to the realities of life!

[4_TN_TITANS]

190. I was married and

working on a second daughter, with my own home, and a steady full time factory job - eventhough I had just graduated college two years before.

I see lots of 20-30ish people these days going around with just a fraction of the responsibilities I had at that age. I'm sure the reasons can be debated, just sayin'

[WallStreetNobody]

191. At 25 I was a senior associate for a large investment company

I thought of myself as still being young but way beyond the age for "youthful pranks". It's odd that conservatives want us to cast off O'Keefe's federal crimes as being "youthful pranks" when at 25 conservatives have already been married to their cousin for years and have at least 3 or 4 kids rolling around in the backup of the pickup.

[ipaint]

192. Watching Reagan bust PATCO and getting sick to my stomach

because I knew it was just the beginning.

I'll never forget-

Dear Mr. Poli:
I have been briefed by members of my staff as to the deplorable state of our nation's air traffic control system. They have told me that too few people working unreasonable hours with obsolete equipment has placed the nation's air travellers in unwarranted danger. In an area so clearly related to public safety the Carter administration has failed to act responsibly.
You can rest assured that if I am elected President, I will take whatever steps are necessary to provide our air traffic controllers with the most modern equipment available and to adjust staff levels and work days so that they are commensurate with achieving a maximum degree of public safety....
I pledge to you that my administration will work very closely with you to bring about a spirit of cooperation between the President and the air traffic controllers.
Sincerely,
Ronald Reagan

[EmeraldCityGrl]

193. Married/homeowner/one child/managing multi-million dollar account.

[flvegan]

194. Getting divorced, walking away from making 6 figures a year.

The investment analyst biz killed two of my friends, and I walked away. Got rid of my Benz, my Porsche, my Corvette. Bought my mom the Jag she always wanted and rented a place for her here in the Florida sun for a few winters. Honestly, it was then that I stopped thinking about what I could make, and started thinking about what I could give.

And look at me now. Maybe a big mistake, if I'm honest.

[Cleita]

195. I was working my butt off for two-thirds of what men earned doing what

I did at my main job and trying to help my parents who were not in a good place. I also tried to pick up other work, waitressing for caterers on my off-time for extra money. I didn't even have a TV at that time because I didn't have time to miss one.

[justabob]

196. having my first nervous breakdown and getting divorced

drinking a LOT.... not a great time in my life.

[Nailzberg]

197. Oppo on Barack Obama

Really. 04 Dem primary for the IL Senate seat.

[B Calm]

198. At 25 it was 3 years after a 4 year hitch in the US Navy & I was married at that age!

[apocalypsehow]

199. Falling in love with my beautiful wife (RIP). n/t.

[Lisa0825]

200. Married, bought a house, supporting my future ex with starting his business.

I was working two jobs and helping him at his job twice a week, plus handling most of the household responsibilities.

[Starry Messenger]

201. I was in grad school.

I was just about to start teaching for the school programs and discovering I liked teaching. It took me a long time to start supporting myself, but I am in the arts. Usually only trust fund kids make it in that area. It took me 11 years of teaching in different capacities as an art teacher to finally get a job that produced a living wage.

[denbot]

202. I was a veteran returning to college..

Good times