[quote=welle036;575018]
Originally Posted by
johnnysnow
The difference is of course the era.
Sixty years ago, an 18 year old was a man. He was expected to be hard working , responsible, and full of character. My grandfather who was part of that generation, held a full time job, while attending high school, and enlisted in the military after graduation. Today he would be considered an over achiever. Back then he was normal. Today, young people rarely have these 3 traits together, if they have them at all. To all you younger folks out there who don't think this applies to you, than maybe it doesn't. There are exceptions to every rule, and maybe your that exception, or maybe your not. I'm inclined to think as a general rule, the later is true.
quote]
I took offense to "someone of this generation being hardworking, responsible, and full of character to be an overachiever and those three traits together being rare." Taking advice or criticism in this context is becoming a harder pill to swallow. This generation will have to learn or is learning those qualities quickly.
Your example(78) is still in the age range of many relevant figures anyway: mccain, fuld, madoff, many politicians. Saying the current group of leaders of this country wouldn't have been born in 1950 seems a little ridiculous; i can think of many prominent figures older than 59. Maybe you should take your own sage advice.
That's interesting since the three people you decided to cite were 14, 4 and 12 respectively in 1950, but I'll give you McCain. But if I recall, he lost the election to the junior senator from Illinois, who by the way wouldn't be born until 1961. Of the 15 cabinet positions in the executive department of the US Government, only 5 were born before 1950 and the earliest of those was 1942.
Regardless, I made it very clear in my previous post that if this doesn't apply to you, than it doesn't. I never said that generation were over achievers, I said some people would look back and say they were. As for those three traits being rare, I'll stand by my words, and hope that everyday I walk the streets, I'm proven wrong, but it has happened yet.