The Struggle of McCentury
The struggle is real!
If you ain't never had or did any of the following, Imma need you to sit cho' ass down;
Syrup, mayonnaise, cheese, sugar, butter, anything that was not traditional sandwiches
Washed clothes by hand
Sweep carpets
Worn hand-me-downs or non-branded clothing
Dinner was in a can on the shelf while hollering "There is nothing to eat!"
Share ANYTHING with your siblings
You had to cook for you AND your siblings
Hell, you had to raise siblings
You had to work a job to support yourself or your family as a teen
If you're reading this, chances are you know of these or have lived some type of struggle in life. As we get older, we make it a mission to "never" have to go through what our parents went through. Then we get older and realize that not only are we going through what they went through, we are experiencing it in an old setting with a new wave. This is where we start asking advice from our older counterparts who had lived live 30+ prior years to us being born.
It's just one problem: Their knowledge is useful for the 20th Century.
The same struggles that generation had to live through while raising us, are the same struggles that made most of them want to or just plain forget where they came form. Furthermore, their thought process of how the world works, hasn't changed with it.
In the 20th Century, folks could walk-in off the street, ask for a job and be hired, all in the same day. Mothers and fathers who had babies and wanted to drive were able to put the baby upfront (what was a car seat?), and drive into the wind. You could leave the doors to your house unlocked and you were who you said you were. By the 21st Century, we have to get online to apply for almost ANY job and it can be weeks to months before you get a call for an interview; It's dangerous and deadly to allow an infant to ride in the front seat let alone a car without a car seat; You leave the doors to your house unlocked, you're inviting the thief in and identity theft is so big that people are being forced to show and do anything short of providing a blood sample to prove they are who they say they are.
Its like I'm in my own episode of "The Twilight Zone". I was given the tools in the 20th Century on how to live a productive, adult life. When I finally reached that part of my life, NONE OF THAT SHIT APPLIED!
None of it. You start realizing that in order to make it in the 21st century, you have to keep up and think outside the ancient box. None of these show more than when it comes to employment, finances and raising children.
Employment is so different, its like, "What the hell did they really teach me?"
With the ever changing world came the improvement of how employers found employees. Big Company no longer has to actually look at Mr. or Ms. So-and-So's hand written application. They can now send them to a web address that will allow them to complete the application and even complete an assessment test!
Now, me being born in the 20th century and having to live my adult life in the fresh-lings of the 21st, I'm already hip with the times. I know that the fastest way to do anything that is anything when it comes to applying for something is to go online. They gonna tell you. They gonna post it up so they don't HAVE to tell you. They gonna make that one of the easiest questions of their employees day so that it does not interfere with work productivity. Its the new wave...its 21st Century.
So what do you do when a 20th century thinker, sees the sign with the information, goes into the store, ask an older 20th century worker for a manager, explains to the worker that they want to inquire about a job, the worker says that's not how it works, the thinker insists on making it happen, worker directs them to a manager who said the EXACT same thing the sign on the door, in the parking lot said?
You follow the thinker around to watch the carnage and return in victory knowing you was in your 21st century thinking. Some battles can't be won with the knowledge you possess because YOU possess it.
With finances, I'm sure we all thought we was gonna grow up and get a job, make big money and be rich beyond our wildest dreams. Nobody factored in long hours for less wages, working two or more jobs, having several side hustles AND donating your plasma. The working poor are working people whose incomes fall below a given poverty line. Depending on how one defines "working" and "poverty," some people may or may not be counted as part of the working poor. Poverty is often associated with unemployment, however, many of those people actually have jobs. So it would come to no surprise that most people would need some type of help in these days to make ends meet. Most people have all their bills paid and can't afford food staples like milk, bread, eggs or flour. Most folks be so embarrassed, they will silently go without, even though food is needed on a daily basis to provide fuel for the body.
So imagine my thought process when the 20th century thinker looked down on the idea of going to a food pantry or (MY GOSH) applying for public assistance. Remember, the 20th century thinker no longer has 20th century struggles. They have had time to allow their 20th century lessons to work for them in that era. In the 21st century, they live in the joys after having gone through their 20th century struggle. People who need these things just "need to get jobs," even though they already work. 9 times out of 10, they have children to feed.
AND SPEAKING OF CHILDREN: Not too much of anything a 20th century person knows about parenting applies in the 21st century. There are some things that DO work like, keep a hat on the baby head, don't kiss the baby in the face, etc. BUT when they get older, a lot of that stuff don't work like:
Spankings - A whipping didn't keep every slave from running away and it didn't keep you from doing what you wanted anyway
Lecturing - You stopped listening when they was done talking; these kids don't be listening period
Taking Things Away - My child will find fun in a slip of paper
Latch Key Kid - How many folks still had company after ya momma said "DON'T LET NOBODY IN MY HOUSE"? (Don't lie either)
And its not just about discipline either. We were always told of "stranger danger" but we were never schooled on the dangers that aren't strangers...like teachers and family members who like to touch inappropriately. It makes you not want to leave your child with just anybody knowing that anybody could be watching your child in a manner that will make you kill on site.
SOOOOOOOO, imagine my thoughts as the 20th century thinker doesn't consider the fact that any child should not be left with just anyone for any reason without proper background check. It baffles my mind knowing that there were just as many dangers in the 20th century as in the 21st and they were never considered.
As a 21st century wife and mother, I am here to say the lessons of the 20th century do not apply to this new way of life we are living. Within in this century, these standards will change, again, again, and again. We can't expect for the things that we know for today to work for our children in their future. We also can't expect to keep doing things from the past and looking for better results. It starts with thinking outside the box and never forgetting where you came from to get to where you are.
