As A Twenty-Something Year Old

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"In your twenties you’re becoming who you’re going to be and so you might as well not be an asshole. You’re generally less humble in that decade than you’ll ever be and this lack of humility is oddly mixed with insecurity and uncertainty and fear. You will learn a lot from yourself if you stretch in the direction of goodness, of bigness, of kindness, of forgiveness, of emotional bravery. Be a warrior for love." - Dear Sugar (June 2010) on The Rumpus.net 

Here's a truth. Trying to be a nice, kind-hearted and sincere person takes effort. I am nice, and I try to be this person in all facets of my day-to-day life. The downside to this is that there are personal frustrations that have to be aired every now and again. As a few people have discovered, I am capable of being intolerant, rude and brash - an asshole. It is never my intention to be that way but in some circumstances, I think they can be justified. But putting that aside, I choose to be a nice person simply because being mean-spirited and apathetic to others is 'easy'. And who ever heard of good things happening to people because they took the easy way out?

And I think it is truthful to say that 20 year olds are less humble  - I've certainly come across a number of dickheads around this age bracket (pardon the language). It's hard living in a world where young people are are taught to fight for what is theirs and in doing so, compassion and sincerity has to fall by the wayside. We are taught only to think and look out for ourselves. Because no one else will. So why should we care about anyone else?

Your twenties is all about 'yourself' - in the sense of finding who you are and what you want to lead a happy life, or at the very least a content one. As young adults, we have the whole world at our fingertips. And, not to sound cliche (but I'm going to regardless), we have the ability to change it. I am certainly not suggesting that everyone should quit their day job and become a champion of humanity... but let us start with ourselves and those around us. With our family, with love and with friends - even if it means acknowledging and opening oneself to insecurity, uncertainty and fear.