Rock and Roll Rebel by Eric McGreevy

Remember the bloated sense of self-importance back when you were in school or college?


Funny how life then proceeds to scrape off every layer of self-entitlement as you age. Experience tames the sense that you're above and beyond.

Remember the sense of death-defying energy that seeped through the chilly after sunset air when you lurked among the shadows because young cool folks only come alive after dusk just like hot vampires on TV?

You must remember the sweet distinct smell of endless possibilities that brush like feathers against your skin as you step out of the door.

The young is forever reaching for something somewhere that they know will no doubt come by for the purpose of knocking the socks off their sweaty hyperactive feet.

The young doesn't just dare but double-dare you to stretch the limits that their parents' generations have nimbly fought to build in place. Their goal is to be on the frontier of something newer, edgier, more rebellious than before. Good grades are for their parents to bawl about with other parents as they sip teas.

The youth can be so innocently obsessed with being cool often without realizing it at all.

They are essentially what their parents were before but every generation has that funny blind spot. They think theirs is the more unique, the more deserving of life's golden awards.

The brainwashed young have always been exalted in ways the work-drained adults may sometimes envy but the latter disguise a cringe because it brings back nostalgia of being exactly in that cushion-y esteemed spot only to fail gloriously at retaining that adoration.

I love watching the bright hopeful eyes of young souls. The view of life from their side is breathtaking, filled with countless interesting faces, journeys and adventures, thoughts and ideas.

There may be time they seem to be confused, lost in between the hopes of their parents and the ideals they've viewed to be reachable if only they are no hurdles blocking their way.

But character doesn't get perfected overnight. The identities of youth change like the weather and even if they deeply feel they are somehow mighty amazing, it will be in their own reflections that these visions falter.

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