Reality Bites
May. 11th, 2004 10:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
swatkatYesterday I heard something about a boy I used to know, and it's been bugging me ever since.
When I was in school, there was a boy in my class. He was smart and witty, and could be very likeable when he wanted to be. He was something of a playboy – handsome, could sing very well, had all the girls (not the girls in our class, but everyone else) running after him. He's an only son. His parents loved him so much that they always found out a way to protect him, even when he got himself in the worst scrapes imaginable. I can remember his mum talking to us, so worried about her son and so eager to see him do better, "Won’t you please help him with the schoolwork? He used to be so good, I don't know what's happened to him…" And we would help him, and he'd scrape through in class without showing a trace of remorse or gratitude. Then he went to college, like the rest of us. But unlike the rest of us, he went to college only because his parents had enough money to put him through college.
Yesterday, a friend informed me that he has just gotten married. He's not employed. He'll never be employed – because he's not qualified enough to get the kind of jobs that he thinks are suitable for him, and he won't do anything else. He sure as hell doesn't have any money, and neither does the girl. He wanted to be a famous singer (and he had the talent for it), but so far he hasn’t done anything about it. So I suppose he expects that their families will support them until he finishes college and becomes the famous singer. Knowing his parents, they'll probably support him alright. But what will happen to him? I don't know. What happens to people like him?
I don't know why this bothers me so much. Maybe because I think marriage is big responsibility, and you don't just go and get married in lark like that. Maybe because he was a friend, and it disturbs me to see him like this. Maybe it's because of his parents – I remember his parents very well, and I can't begin to imagine how much it must hurt them to see him like this, wasting everything.
Yes, I'm very confused and disturbed. Can't you tell? *g*
When I was in school, there was a boy in my class. He was smart and witty, and could be very likeable when he wanted to be. He was something of a playboy – handsome, could sing very well, had all the girls (not the girls in our class, but everyone else) running after him. He's an only son. His parents loved him so much that they always found out a way to protect him, even when he got himself in the worst scrapes imaginable. I can remember his mum talking to us, so worried about her son and so eager to see him do better, "Won’t you please help him with the schoolwork? He used to be so good, I don't know what's happened to him…" And we would help him, and he'd scrape through in class without showing a trace of remorse or gratitude. Then he went to college, like the rest of us. But unlike the rest of us, he went to college only because his parents had enough money to put him through college.
Yesterday, a friend informed me that he has just gotten married. He's not employed. He'll never be employed – because he's not qualified enough to get the kind of jobs that he thinks are suitable for him, and he won't do anything else. He sure as hell doesn't have any money, and neither does the girl. He wanted to be a famous singer (and he had the talent for it), but so far he hasn’t done anything about it. So I suppose he expects that their families will support them until he finishes college and becomes the famous singer. Knowing his parents, they'll probably support him alright. But what will happen to him? I don't know. What happens to people like him?
I don't know why this bothers me so much. Maybe because I think marriage is big responsibility, and you don't just go and get married in lark like that. Maybe because he was a friend, and it disturbs me to see him like this. Maybe it's because of his parents – I remember his parents very well, and I can't begin to imagine how much it must hurt them to see him like this, wasting everything.
Yes, I'm very confused and disturbed. Can't you tell? *g*
