I don’t look old. I don’t feel old. I don’t think old. But evidentially I am old. Case in point – I was walking through the living room and noticed that the wife was watching something on MTV called “My Super Sweat 16” - and here is where I get old.
The kids these days!
I have never seen such gross, embarrassing show of shallow materialism on display in all my life. Here is the show’s premise; an MTV crew documents the 16th birthday party of a kid who was “fortunate” enough to be born to parents of massive wealth. This aint no pin the tail on the donkey, swing the piñata, and open up present type of party I remember. This is a fully catered, ballroom rented out party complete with exotic animals and exotic cars. A party where the birthday boy is carried in on a camel while African tribal people dance among him playing drums and chanting his praises. This is a party where every kid in attendance talked only about “how cool” this guy was because he was “so loaded”. I never heard one person say anything of substance about this kid’s character or about how he did anything worthy of this praise. At the end of the party, this kid gets a $60,000 car as a present! Are you kidding me? Who in their right mind gives a 16 year-old a $60,000 car?
Maybe I am getting old. But I can’t recall this type of materiality worship when I was this age. I remember thinking how lucky I was just to get these really cool “platform shoes” that were suppose to make me jump like Michael Jordan. I never felt less of a person because I didn’t get a new car or didn’t have 300 of my “closest friends” chanting my name.
My wife tells me the previous episode showed an equally insane party, but this time the girl didn’t get a $60,000 car – she got two! TWO!?! Do these parents think they are doing their kids a favor by lavishing them with these gifts? What happens when they are on their own – or is the plan to never make them go on their own. I’m not sure which is worse - the slap in the face by reality when they are forced to fend for themselves in the real world…or the pathetic life that awaits those who are never faced with that reality slap and instead remain tied to their parents umbilical cord of wealth their entire life.
This isn’t a poor mans diatribe against those of wealth. I realize that it is a natural expectation that those who make more money will spend more money. I know that the gifts I buy my kids are more expensive than the gifts some of my nieces and nephews get. I also know the price tag is not representative of the amount of love behind those gifts. But that doesn’t mean the expenditure slope is linear – always increasing with no logical cap. I mean, at some point, don’t you draw a line between making sure your kids get what they need as opposed to what they want. And if you are fortunate enough to have the ability to give them what they want, don’t you have a responsibility to teach them what is reasonable and what is not? I would love to hear the “responsibility” argument from the parents who bought their teenage daughter two cars.
The trickledown effect is that ever kid in America watching this show now has to try and live up to this standard. MTV is one of the worst influences on our youth today. And, yes, I realize that by saying that – it does in fact mean that I am old!
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