Narcissism

[piercehawkeye45]

http://www.twincities.com/life/ci_5524838

I was reading this article today and I started to think about narcissism, how it relates to the world today, what is the cause, and how can we prevent it if we want to do that.

First of all, this article says that my generation (I am 18) is the most narcissistic generation of all time. Now, while I think the level is a gross exaggeration from what I have seen but I do see many instances of extreme narcissism in my everyday life and knowing that I am only 18, can’t compare my generation to any other. I would like your opinion on whether or not you guys think that my generation is the most narcissistic generation that you have seen and please provide examples.

Now, like I said earlier, I do see many instances of extreme narcissism. For example, a few months ago I saw a girl maybe two years older than me walk right in front of an intersection when she didn’t have the walk sign and she cut off at least three cars. While I and most others do jaywalk, we make sure that we don’t cut off any cars for the sake of courtesy and the common sense of knowing that if a mistake is made, I will be the one either dead or in the hospital. This could be a rare occurrence (I certainly hope so) but what makes someone so self-centered to think that the whole world should revolve around them, especially someone over 18 years old? Did these people miss the stage where they see the world from a nihilistic view and realize that in the big scheme of things, everyone one of us has about as much worth as a penny does to a billionaire? How can these people be in so much denial to think that their life is any better than the people living next to them?

The article says that this comes from our parents “parenting style” and the constant reinforcement that we are “special” I think it is deeper than that or intertwined with other aspects of life. Through my short amount of years, I have realized that self-worth runs side to side with mental maturity. I have noticed that the most mature of individuals tend to look at others needs first and are less likely to do something that will be a major inconvenience to the people around them. I have also noticed that many people around me are very mentally immature. Has our society discouraged us to “grow up” and take responsibility for ourselves? The obvious answer is yes. I have personally felt the forces to be a child for as long as we can. Something that I feel will have major consequences in the near future. Debt will skyrocket, parenting skills will get even worse than it is today, and people will stop doing what is imperative for our society to function.

I will have to admit to my hypocrisy on this topic and the biggest reason for my maturity comes from a good friend of mine and I realize that without his friendship, I would be much different than I am today. This comes to my next point. Why are we not forced to mature and are we missing certain aspects that come with maturity? We are never taught to take responsibility for ourselves, in school, we are not allowed to find out that skipping classes will most likely result in lower test scores and that not being babied on how to do an assignment will allow us to use other resources to complete it.

I could go on much longer but I am going to end my rant here. What do you guys think will happen if this narcissism continues to exist and get worse if we even have it in the first place? Do you guys think it comes from parenting, friends, society, or a combination of the above?

By the way, by narcissism and thinking we are not better than others I don’t mean competitive wise but worth wise. I think I can beat other people but I do not think that my life is worth any more than anyone else’s.