You are not special!

I thought it was excellent! I agree with it wholeheartedly.

I find it crazy that it is even a controversary!

Too many "big" words and "challenging" references made it difficult for many people to understand? lmao.

The folks that hate it are the same ones that do not understand the sarcasm nor the deeper meaning.

I guess he could have simply said- "Stop standing there like the losers waiting for hand-outs from life, put in some hard work and make something of yourselves"

Absolutly. I agree 100%.

Fantastic speech. Love it all.

And love that ice cream is 2nd.

There is way too much "coddling" of society's children today. Now, everybody gets an award, nobody learns to lose gracefully anymore. Those same children are the teenagers who have no respect for others and expect everything to be handed to them on a silver platter.

I liked the speech, and it's true, you need to work hard to get recognition.

Very sad that 98% of those teens will never take that speech to heart and gain any inspiration from it.

I've been doing quite a bit of research on the generation, and it seems sadly true across the board. (My job includes managing mostly 18-22 year old college students.) It's a result of the Everyone Gets A Trophy model of (non)achievement and helicopter parenting that was so prevalent for them when they were growing up.

The Pew Research Center has done some great work about Millennials, I highly recommend their site for neat facts about the generational differences! - http://pewresearch.org/millennials/

[O'course, I'm not that much older than they are, but I'm among the last of them to remember not having the internet or a computer. The born-digital generation is a whole 'nother animal!]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lfxYhtf8o4

Thank you!

Great speech, the entire thing.

I did not find it all that outrageous and a little dated. this argument that "today's" youth are pampers and raised on false self-esteem had been going on for more the 30 years. the speaker looks to be the same age as me, so must have had many of the say experiences as I did when I was a youth; Participation trophies, parents too involved in their kids lives, striving academic and athletic achievements to have something to put on a collage application.

and of course you (the generic you) never were like that as a kid and your children aren't like that also (that is sarcasm). this is just another in the long line of "youth today are just awful" argument that has been going on since there were youth.

"When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly disrespectful and impatient of restraint". Hesiod, 8th century BC

"What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?" Plato, 4th Century BC

"The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint... As for the girls, they are forward, immodest and unladylike in speech, behavior and dress." Attributed to Peter the Hermit, AD 1274

and something a little more recent.
"Juvenile delinquency has increased at an alarming rate and is eating at the heart of America" US juvenile court judge, 1946


Again I am not against the speaker telling the students they are not special, but it is not a "brave" stand or even an original one.

ps this is one of the problems of being a History major. :laugh:

I did not find it all that outrageous and a little dated. this argument that "today's" youth are pampers and raised on false self-esteem had been going on for more the 30 years. the speaker looks to be the same age as me, so must have had many of the say experiences as I did when I was a youth; Participation trophies, parents too involved in their kids lives, striving academic and athletic achievements to have something to put on a collage application.

and of course you (the generic you) never were like that as a kid and your children aren't like that also (that is sarcasm). this is just another in the long line of "youth today are just awful" argument that has been going on since there were youth.

"When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly disrespectful and impatient of restraint". Hesiod, 8th century BC

"What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?" Plato, 4th Century BC

"The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint... As for the girls, they are forward, immodest and unladylike in speech, behavior and dress." Attributed to Peter the Hermit, AD 1274

and something a little more recent.
"Juvenile delinquency has increased at an alarming rate and is eating at the heart of America" US juvenile court judge, 1946


Again I am not against the speaker telling the students they are not special, but it is not a "brave" stand or even an original one.

ps this is one of the problems of being a History major. :laugh:

Wow, when you lay it out like that, I feel old. :laugh:

I love this! I think that it applies to everyone, not just youth. Yes, we coddle them too much. But I guarantee you there are things in your life that you think you beat the averages in, even though you don't. Read (Nobel Prize Winner) Daniel Kahneman's "Thinking Fast and Slow". It is a real eye opener.

People are guilty of it on here. How many times a day do you read "XX is just unrealistic for me" or "I have this special metabolism".

BMI is the prefect example. Everyone knows BMI is flawed and that you can fall out of the healthy range while still having a healthy BF%, but it is an average and most (aka ~85%) of us will easily fall into that average. You are not special, unless you are an athlete with a very high muscle mass, you are average and it will work for you.

I really enjoyed this, and it's dead on with truth. Life is about much more than just feeling "special" all the time. Humility is a medicine we all need to take every day.

Damn straight! If I had treated my parents with disrespect, I wouldn't have been able to sit down for day. My parents weren't my friends...they were my parents.

and so are the vast majority of parents and youth out their today. but a few kids who are rude or parents who hover too much and we as a society think there is some epidemic of rudeness. Now I am sure you all can come up with anecdotal stories to show how bad youth are today, but i can counter with just as many on how polite and wonderful they are. I do lot of volunteer work with kids from a wide variety of backgrounds and other then the inter-connectivity due to electronics, I don't see a big difference from when I was a kid.



and I approve of mavd comment about BMI.

You make a very valid point.

My main concern is the observation of "young folks" that are incapable of doing anything without their parents holding their hands. That is the saddest thing I see from this "you are special" helicopter parenting trend. I have co-workers who have children in their early to mid twenties, they have to take time off work to help them with tasks that these "kids" should know or figure out how to do on their own.

These women run out of the office multiple times a day to answer the phone for whatever crisis precious one is having that day. Or my 18 year old cousin that just graduated that needs every little thing explained to him because he has never had to use critical thinking.

Of course I am not saying all are like this but the number that are seems to be on the rise. :frown: