Youth Really May Be Wasted On The Young

My Dad had a very good vernacular and a sharp wit when he was in his middle age years -- exactly where I find myself now.

One of his better summertime sayings -- one he repeats to this day -- was that "youth is wasted on the young."

In my own youth, I never understood just where he garnered that kernel of knowledge. I had no clue. That is until I began my own full-time working life. Then, it hit home.

As this July 4 weekend kicks off, my mind returns to my own youth of the late 1970s and early 1980s, spending summer after summer at the nearby Jersey shore beaches with nary a care in the world.

As high school and college students, we didn't realize that these summers would be the best times of our lives.

Oh, we had some responsibility. We ran the beach in the morning and lifted weights in the evening in preparation for high school football season.

There was a need for a job between college semesters. It worked out that it was a night position, so it went something like this: hit the beach at 9 a.m., work from 4 p.m. to midnight, close the Asbury Park bars at 3 a.m. and repeat the process. (Remember, the drinking age was 18 way back then.)

Days off from work were spent either at Monmouth Park, some other Jersey shore attraction, the local club concert scene (yes, we'd run into Springsteen on occasion) or on a chair at Mom and Dad's beach club. There was even a vacation to central Maine thrown into the mix at some point.

Pretty good living for three months a year until Labor Day rolled around to bring us back to "reality."

So, when I hear some of  today's youth say they're bored, watch them texting furiously at an Iron Pigs game or see them attached to some other type of electronic device, I feel somewhat for them.

Of course, many do attend local camps for swim lessons and the like and others are holding down part-time jobs.

Sure, they've got the summer off, but it certainly doesn't appear to be the same as the summer that I remember.

But, whatever they do, I hope they enjoy their activities. Because when their own full-time work life starts they may be muttering the same vernacular as may Dad still does.

The moral of the story: Don't waste your summer, kids!