Hip Or Square?

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I don't really feel old, but I must be, because I look around me, and I just don't subscribe to what everybody else is doing. Remember, how when you were little, old people always complained about young people, lamenting what would become of the youth. Well, sometimes I find myself doing that. Like I don't get the obsession with social media. I don't get the obsession with selfies, and duck faces, and the excessive amounts of make-up, pruning and what not young women subject themselves to. If it at least made them look good. No, instead they just look fake and generic. I notice that especially Americans make a real virtue of being workaholics. Saying "I work hard" is like the ultimate positive trait. But I don't see it like that. Those people never smell the roses, life passes them by. They sacrifice relationships and good experiences, and all their success and results don't make them more endearing. Because their success doesn't make my life better, in fact it may even make it worse. Just think about what has driven global pollution, social disparity and international conflict. Human greed. I don't get the pressure people place on themselves that success is only achieved when you have an impact on the world, when you make the world a "better" place (very subjective term), when everybody else acknowledges your significance. Actually, maybe I do get that, because that used to be me. And then I realised what a hollow pursuit that is, because it is a never-ending goal with no end in sight. There will always be someone smarter than you, prettier than you, richer than you. Instead, think of this: When you impact the people around you, you impact on the world; when you help or show kindness to those you love and even those you don't love, you make the world a better place; and success as a human being is not measured in fame, riches or accolades, but rather in how the people who knew you will remember you. When you die, the only thing you take with you is the wisdom and love you accumulated. I place far more value on these traits, although I still feel that I can do so much more on that front too. I spend so much time feeling drained by the world and by people, I feel like I have so little offer in return.