The following is a post
made by my daughter on our home forum
she is 23
I thought it might resonate here
This graphic fanart made by her illustrates the bleakness of the piece
The poem that follows
was made by my youngest daughter
a couple of years back
when she was 13
this too has a somberness
It seems like every generation has stated that the struggles they are presented with involve more suffering than the last.
I dont think that’s because there are more bad things going on in the world, but that youngsters are exposed to the infomation age, asking them to deal with things they may not be ready for, sooner. Adults think they are preparing them, giving them a headstart, but its still pretty tramautic at that impressionable age. Kids know about sex sooner, they have sex sooner. And adults are in dismay about it. How could they expect anything different? You will hear bad words sooner, wonder what they mean, and it snowballs. They are forever aware of weak spots in their foundation, in their development. Asking questions like “Why did I have to be introduced to something before I was brought up to speed about how to protect myself against it? Why is goodness a notion only after the effect?” Priorities are screwed up, and they internalize that.
This dread over nuclear war was shared by generations before me, and countries still posture. Except now you have more articles about it, more camera angles.
It must be a hell of a thing to consider bringing kids into the world when eventually they wont know the difference between nature and simulation.
She had a dad who gave instruction. So she sounds firm, but wouldn’t mind feeling flexible sometimes.
I had a mother who let me think whatever I want. I am flexible, wouldn’t mind being firm on something, anything.
I imagine we would both like to trade experiences.
I think what your daughter feels and fears is coming from the father.
Both her dooms day anticipation and the remedy (faith and hope) are given by her father, but she is only aware of the half.
If she was raised differently, she didn’t need the remedy, to begin with.
Also, in deeper sense, the sense of anticipation (of the end) isn’t really for the world in the humanly sense.
I think she is interpreting the existential anxiety as the “end of the world” anticipation, probably because of her father, again.
Just like the father, she isn’t aware enough of her emotional and mental perspectives and he isn’t using logic enough to cut through the confusion.
Her “massive hope” indicates that she needed lots of positively flavored counterbalance and it means she fears a lot but not facing/consuming it, directly.
I see typical small cult type thought patterns.
Nah you are seriously out of touch with the current generation. Its all skull and bones and piercing and retro tatoos man. Get with it.
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I have posted same on a younger forum
The essay and poem are right on the money.
The only diff is my kids have still got hope.
Its not like he taught her that mass extinction was nearing in any other way she wouldn’t have come across herself.
It sounds like he taught her to value avoiding such a situation, why life is worth preserving.
I hope she appreciates having a figure in her life to talk about that stuff.
Kids with bad family structures realize the same thing about impending doom. They just dont have anybody to talk them through why we dont deserve it.
I think if someone told her indirectly how to appreciate the guidance even more, (it can be taken for granted) she could build on that hope for humanity. Maybe she can influence others her age.
Most kids are so emotionally messed up they become numb. They need a reason to feel again. I wish I could give them that reason. I’m numb myself. And I’m about a decade removed.
Nah - I must disagree with you. This MM’s daughter’s essay is one of the most unremarkable testaments of youth that I have ever read. Except for the cult thing. That’s there, for sure.
Faust, you’re a little older . . . so what is a cure? Anything from your generation at that age that could be restablished, to bring them relief?
Relief from what? Many people of that age cannot imagine getting old. Every generation thinks it’s unique. Many immature members of every generation have anxiety about the future of the world, as if that concept has any real meaning.
She has read that completely bogus “statistic” about 50,000 species becoming extinct every day - a number that was made up of whole cloth, and being of an age where compassion is totally unfocused, accepts it in some vague and uncritical way as proof that the previous generations are more irresponsible than hers is roundly accused of being.
This is so “textbook” that one may almost doubt its authenticity.
Okay - so she’s an emo kid. So many are. But it’s nothing so new. It’s just particularly fashionable right now.
And then there’s that ray of hope. That her generation can change the world for the better, by rejecting the old values and devising their own. And they surely can change the world.
The only real difference here is that, in generations past, this would be the statement of a teenager. But kids are a bit “younger” now than they were. That’s really not much of a difference, though.
It’s all pretty standard stuff, in the end.
There is that “apocalytpic” thing, which is a bit dramatic, and, well, cultish. But she’s living in a cult - MM has said so. So that’s not so surprising.
The only advice I have for her is to escape, and to see a wider world - to gain a wider array of emotional reactions. But that will probably come, in time.
My current work place is full of “current” generation.
And they don’t share the fear of the doomsday.
It’s quite possible that I live in an area with less fear. 
But I’ve been talking with young and old of different countries, too.
And I don’t think “current generation” is characterized like this.
I’d say, the fear for the “end of the world” might be common among monotheists, regardless of the generation.
They’ve been waiting (with the hope and the fear), for long long time.
Some of them for the first coming of the “savior” and others for the “second”.
They love linear predictable future and prophecy with doomsday. 
Nope. I’m talking of patterns in perspectives and relations.
I have visited and observed different “communities” and “mini cults”.
I see “hope” as a coping mechanism, or rather as the escapism.
So, I’d say the lack of hope is “healthier” in a way.
And you would surely get responses from like minded people.
Which part are you disagreeing?
The influence of MagnetMan on the fear of the end (in interpreting existential anxiety as the fear for the end)?
“Hope” being escapism from “fear”?
Not being aware of her emotional/mental perspectives and not logical enough?
Or all? 
The part I agree about is the end of the world stuff. That’s a bit over the top. But MM is in some sort of cult out there in the desert. So what would be the run of the mill existential anxiety in most young people is “apocalyptic” to this one.
Logic is not so common a commodity - nothing shocking there.
There are three cults ruling the world
Capitalism
Communism’
Socialism
Everybody in them is brainwashed
and dance to the tune of the piper
They are kept on a monthly retainer
and wear blinkers on the way to “work”
that for the most part has no meaning
They are scientifically trained to believe man has no spirit
and consequently live lives
as soulless zombis
trapped in their rut
and have no initiative
as their world crumbles about them
I have been there
and can only thank god
that I
and my kids
are done with that
We are not a cult
we simply live
self-regulated lives
Riiiiiight.
I’m 22 if by chance I get some kind of neurodegenerative disease and start making emo rants about “my” generation at age 23, someone please find me and put a bullet in my head. I’d ask you Faust but you’d probably shoot me in the liver in a drunken haze’
22!
That explains a lot
I must congratulate you on your attitude to elders
Confucius must be turning in his grave
But then again
I come from an older
more genteel generation
who never felt that a pseudo-intellect
ingested by book learning
gave us license to be rudely
dismissive
given the chance
in your case
I would order a lobotomy
In fact both of you
It pleases me to know
my children were brought up
correctly
I doubt you are capable of writing anything
as soul searching
On what basis do the old deserve respect? I’ve experienced a lot more than plenty of old people, and it situations where I do lack experience I listen to those with experience old and young.
I’m 22 and i’m massively more experienced/educated than you are on many subjects. So your condescending attitude is hilarious. You could be 300 and never understand half of my life experiences.
More conversation
on the OP
between my two daughters
I strongly suggest a heavy dose of Jerry Garcia! 
youtube.com/results?search_t … ul+dead+pe
(don’t worry, the black screen fades into color…)
For the record, Cy, while I have seldom been drunk in several years, I’m not a bad shot when I am drunk.
MM - I am not meaning to be critical. There is nothing wrong in being entirely ordinary. Even if it means being a part of an entirely ordinary cult. This country was first settled by cultists. It’s a very american thing to do - shows right and proper mainstream american values.
Whats the point of those rants MM? Its standard fair for young people to moan about this generation without learning or doing anything about it.