Like an old western Saturday morning show more and more Americans are turning into damsels in distress. There, the kick and scream, tied to the tracks of life. All the while desperately hoping someone else will swoop in and save them before the train called FATE runs them over and the curtain drops. 

Speaking of the Wild West, thank God this nation expanded back then. Lord knows it wouldn’t happen today. The average first world problem walking around wouldn’t know what to do if they were expected to rough it on their own. Hell, forget rough it, they aren’t prepared to go without Starbucks for a day! No way you’d catch them sleeping alone in a wild and untamed country. Back then being the damsel was something to be looked down upon. Frowned at.  Now it appears it is a badge of honor. Everyone wants someone else to save them. Or at the very least they want to blame everyone else that the train is merely doing its job on the tracks.

I am of the belief that this all stems from lack of accountability,  replaced with a whole lot of “ME’S.” In a world of Instagram and “instagratification” society has become a spoiled child. It knows it is mad, is sure it is justified, but as it lies there kicking and screaming in the middle of aisle 10;  those of us who have seen the realities of the world outside our mother’s basement can’t muster the strength to feign empathy any longer.  Now before you go thinking this is a millennial bashing post, don’t. It’s an American problem and cuts across multiple generations.

Let’s start with good ol’ mom & dad.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when my generation and older bash the Millenials.  Let’s run through the standard dribble, shall we? “They have no drive!”  “They don’t know what hard work is!” or “They don’t know how to wait for good things to come!” “They have no patience!” To you, the angry mob of age, I only ask the following? Who raised them?

Suddenly, a hush falls over the crowd. I have found that is amazingly easy to shift the burden of responsibility. After all, that is what today’s blog is about isn’t it? Maybe, just maybe the millennials learned that from you ol’ grouchy grandfather. You see it was you who set no boundaries. It was you who thought manners were only for those of yesteryear. It was you who wanted to be a friend first, parent second. You ushered in this new generation with your lack of commitment to the thing that mattered most; the raising of the future.

From the Wild West to Westeros

To the Millennials who fit the bill…..this one’s for you. 

Everyone knows ol’ boy to the right? Remember how happy you were when he died? Side note, not even upset if I spoiled that for you,  that happened 3 years ago. Get your life right.  Anyway, in a show filled with cruelty, murder, mayhem, and rape, the entire world didn’t ban together in unified hate for his character for any of those. Matter of fact, those are the reasons most of us watch the show in the first place. No, the reason we hated him is that he was the embodiment of the guy who did nothing but thought that he was due everything.  Let’s face it, if there ever were a poster child for the perceived shortcomings of the Millennial generation, it would be Jefforyboy.

While as I mentioned earlier, you have arrived at this current state through no real fault of your own it makes no difference to the reality in which you live. Your attitude makes folks hate you and wish for your timely demise on your wedding day. Your wife won’t notice. She’s busy “snapchatting” the big day to all her friends with dog ears on. How cute. You were getting a puppy too!

You see Jeffory wasn’t really to blame for his asshole nature either. He was a spoiled kid, raised by shithead parents, that thought Kingslanding and all of Westeros owed him something. Tragic though his plight may be, we still all wanted him dead. And that is where many of you will find yourselves. Lots of folks wishing you were dead or at least working somewhere else. The only way to avoid this horrific wedding date with destiny is to shake loose the shackles of your dependence for getting your way right now, and start playing the long game.  After all, everyone loves Jon Snow.

Snow, everyone’s favorite, or second favorite character on the show, arrived at his place the old-fashioned way. He fought. He struggled. He survived. He surely didn’t take the time to research every possible way that the hard way, the one that lacked discipline, didn’t work. He didn’t seek out some random study someone somewhere in Kings Landing did that said something along the lines of; “Oh no…You must have a perfect work-life balance!”  No, Jon just woke up every day, cold or not (it was always cold) and he went outside and swung his damn sword. In short, he was disciplined. As my man JoKo says “Discipline equals freedom” and it sure set Mr. Snow free. Literally.He didn’t cry when he found out he was a bastard. Ok, well maybe a little, but he still went, and that counts for something.  He didn’t cry when he found out zombies were real…and frozen. He didn’t scream when all the folks at his office Christmas party stabbed his ass to death. He didn’t cry when he slept with his cousin…wait. I don’t doubt that part. He may have cried there.  Anyway, that’s not the point. The point is the guy we all loved didn’t bitch: he did!! The guy we hated bitched all the way up until he died.

So how do you end up the king of the North instead of the one they make puppet plays about after you are gone? The answer is simple. Stop looking for easy. Stop looking for now. Realize that anything worth having is going to come with a lot of long, long winters. That the process that brings you to success may bring you there a little worse for wear. You may arrive burned, disfigured, and emotionally scarred.  But no matter what, brave the cold regardless of how long it takes; because if you do you’ll appreciate the time that sun falls warm on your face as you sit upon your own iron throne.

#Justtheramblingsofanolinfantryman.