Society

 

When I was Young

When I was young, it was more important
Pain more painful
Laughter much louder
Yeah, when I was young
When I was young.

But now I am old.

I would propose that there are fours stages of man. The first stage is when we are born, At that time we are an individual and have to be trained to enter the second stage, to be civilized (funny word that. It literally means the process of living in a city, i.e. a group). At that point we have learned how to be part of society. The next stage comes when we see ourselves as an individual again and rebel against that society. Hopefully, we will enter the fourth stage and realize that society is just a collection of individuals like us, and we willingly join that society as an individual. In doing so society also needs to see itself as nothing more than a collection of diverse individuals and to respect those individuals.

When you are young, you rebel against society. But when you are old, you realize that you are a group animal, and that society is the group which you must join. If you get to that fourth stage not only you, but society, will benefit.. You are an individual, probably older, and society is nothing more than a collection of individuals. If people, or society, have arrested development, and are stuck in an earlier stage, they are to be pitied, not scorned.