I mean, to be fair, 20 years ago was a FAR more peaceful time for 20 year olds. Back then, the only dangers we had were worrying about standing in tall buildings in NYC, worrying that a draft would be instituted, and worrying that somebody would catch you actually enjoying the song "A thousand miles" by Vanessa Carlton.
"We Didn't Start the Fire" is a song written by American musician Billy Joel. The song was released as a single on September 18, 1989, and later released as part of Joel's album Storm Front on October 17, 1989. A list song, its fast-paced lyrics include brief references to 119 significant political, cultural, scientific, and sporting events between 1949 (the year of Joel's birth) and 1989, in mainly chronological order.
Joel conceived the idea for the song when he had just turned 40. He was in a recording studio and met a 21-year-old friend of Sean Lennon who said "It's a terrible time to be 21!". Joel replied: "Yeah, I remember when I was 21 – I thought it was an awful time and we had Vietnam, and y'know, drug problems, and civil rights problems and everything seemed to be awful". The friend replied: "Yeah, yeah, yeah, but it's different for you. You were a kid in the fifties and everybody knows that nothing happened in the fifties". Joel retorted: "Wait a minute, didn't you hear of the Korean War or the Suez Canal Crisis?" Joel later said those headlines formed the basic framework for the song.
I did too. I'm more relaxed than ever at 40. The world is a bit of a shit show but I ran out of fucks to give about a lot of things that would have absolutely destroyed me even a decade ago. Stick with it, friend!
Eh. Death is fine. It's all the bullshit before death we call life that worries me.
You gotta remember, back in 1993 the new york times claimed that my generation as kids were the first generation more afraid of living than they are dying.
I burned myself out in high school so I could burn myself out in undergrad so I could burn myself out in graduate school so I could be unemployable at 27.