Generation Proclamation/February 08, 2007

I live at home with my parents. I am twenty two. Tell me, just because I am young, does that fact give anyone, including my parents, the right to call me "naive," "ignorant," and "oblivious to the real world?" If your answer is yes, I beg to differ. I may be young, but I know more than my folks give me credit for. I also know and understand that I don't know everything and that there is a lot I have yet to learn. To my knowledge, people learn something new every single day of their lives, if they are open-minded and attentive enough to realize this fact.

Today my parents and I had a serious falling out. I am deeply saddened and hurt. I have never been more disappointed in any two people in my life and I can say with certainty that I have lost all respect for them. Yes, I know how harsh that sounds, but it is how I feel. They never acknowledge me as an adult and I am sick of it. They always mock my opinions and call me a "naive little girl." I am NOT a little girl. I know I am their "baby," but when are they going to stop with that garbage and see me for who I am and the values I stand for? They have literally laughed in my face after hearing what I have to say in regards to topics we disagree on. They don't consider my opinion valid at all, because to them, I am still a child with no brain or wisdom- which, is NOT true.

They act as if they know it all just because they are 43 and 45 years old. They never stop to think that they're behavior most of the time makes them look more like they are ten. They act immature whenever I try to approach them as an adult and mock me until I cry from the frustration and anger they make me feel. It isn't right. They think that I know nothing of how people are or how the world is. Do I not get up and go to work in the nastiest city in this state every day? Do I not risk my personal safety every day when I ride that rundown, piece-of-shit excuse for public transportation known as The Metro Rail? Am I not surrounded daily by overbearing, nearly psychotic attorneys and co-workers? Don't I watch and read the news everyday to find out what is going on in the world I live in? After knowing all that I do every day, how can you still stand there and tell me to my face that I don't know anything? How is that, in any way, fair? I know plenty for my age and for the experiences I have had. My knowledge is my own, just as every one else's is their own. Not everyone goes through the same things. Each and every person has different knowledge and wisdom in their bones and souls. If everyone who acted like my parents would just shut up for a few minutes and listen to what everyone else had to say, they would learn a heck of a lot. I know people my own age that have gone through things that my parents can't even begin to imagine. Yes, they have their share of wisdom from their life's experiences thus far, but they do not know everything and they should stop acting like they do.

The gap between our generations isn't huge, but it is enough that it has severely damaged our relationship ever since I was about 15 or so. My parents and I, as much as I have tried to get them to understand me, just don't see eye to eye on anything- and hate how much that sounds like the classic "teen rebel" crap. It's not like that. I've always been a great daughter and a good citizen. I have never been in trouble with the law or anything like that.

I told them to their faces how disappointed I am of them and how I no longer respect them. They are hurt, but I am hurt, too. I am hurt that they never respect me or truly listen to me. I'm almost certain that when I speak they hear that muffled trumpet sound that makes for the voices of the adults in the Peanuts cartoons. They always tell me I am wrong. How can I be wrong when it is my opinion? Why am I wrong because I am disagreeing with them? I don't have to agree with them on everything, and it angers me that they never realize this. My mother keeps coming in to tell me how hurt she is that I said that to them. I am, but I am sorry that I can't change the way that I feel.

After our argument, I sat in my room, crying, and made some very tough decisions. I've decided that it's time for me to leave. I can't stay. Of course, I'll have to stay until I have the financial means to move out on my own, and I can hopefully accomplish it by the end of this year. They won't be happy. Since they're strict, old-fashioned Cubans, their "law" is that I can not leave the house until I am married, but being that it's the 21st century and all, I just don't give a rat's ass about their antiquated ideas.

So, wish me luck everyone. I've reached my wit's end with the living at home situation. I want out. I need it, because if I don't leave soon, what is left of my sanity won't survive.

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