Five Mark Twain quotes as they relate to 2018

The only difference in 2018, is that we do the advertising on social media ourselves. So, as advertisers, what are you putting out there?   “There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist.” We live in a world where people love to play the blame game — older generations constantly shirk responsibility by blaming newer generations for ruining everything. People divide themselves into groups, so they can point the finger and blame another group for everything that goes wrong. Young people tend to feel the constant need to be the underdog, despite whatever the truth may be, so they can place blame on the big, bad maniacal overlords. And when you are constantly placing the blame elsewhere, eventually you begin to believe your own propaganda. You start to think that the world really is out of your control entirely, and that there is nothing that you or anyone else can do about it. And if everything is out of your control, then you can sit back with a smug look on your face and chuckle as you call yourself a pessimist. People who call themselves “realists” often do the exact same thing. And it’s when these ideals infect the youth — the people who are supposed to be the embodiment of vigor and dreams, that it really takes a toll on the society. Still, we have older generations berating the youth for already somehow ruining everything, younger generations berating each other, and the result is the death of ideals and the birth of pessimism and inaction. Many seem to love to encourage pessimism over optimism in the youth, instead of handing them dreams to aspire to. I don’t know how many self-depreciating millennials talk about their own generation like it’s a lost cause (and of course they’re a magical exception who was born in the wrong time). The same goes for older generation who are constantly telling millennials that they are the worst generation to date who will never amount to anything. Never mind the men and women I served, fought and bled beside in combat, all of whom were millennials.   “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” This one might be a little tricky. In the today’s United States, we have found ourselves in a social civil war with each side blaming the other for all the country’s problems. However, one must realize that in order to see the problem accurately, it cannot be boiled down that simply. First of all, Twain’s words make more sense when you realize that, in today’s United States, Republicans and Democrats are both in the majority. The problems within both parties exacerbate themselves when each side sees themselves (and tells each other) that they are the minority who has been wronged by the other. And so, if you are an ardent Republican or Democrat in today’s America, I’m not saying that you are right, and another thing is wrong, I’m just saying what Twain said: “it is time to pause and reflect.” However, this isn’t limited to the minority/majority situation in politics, it applies to any context of life. This phrase holds true with race, religion, part of the country in which you live, and any type of difference one human being might find in themselves from another. Don’t get it confused — if you tell some people nowadays to pause and reflect upon your Muslim neighbor, they will cry liberal and hide in their echo chambers, talking about a snowflake they ran into that day. If you tell some other people to pause and reflect upon a Trump voter in, say, downtown San Francisco, they might cry “bigot” and retreat into the same (but opposite) echo chambers. Pause. Reflect. Move forward and make things better. Twain is trying to get people to ask questions — the answers don’t always have to be shoved down your throat, they are there for you to discover.   And of course, my personal favorite, though perhaps a bit contradictory to his previous statements: “The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog.”   What’s one of your favorite Mark Twain quotes? Featured image courtesy of Pixabay [CC0 1.0], altered by the author.