Kids These Days

On Monday I ended up having a brief conversation with a 19-year-old boy. Clearly, this person thinks of himself as an adult, yet I could not quite take him seriously as he regaled me with tales that highlighted his bull-riding prowess and talent for drinking his friends under the table. I feel I'd have found myself similarly torn between amusement and discomfort had I been approached by a five-year-old proud of his ability to draw whiskers on people's faces with an eyeliner pencil and burp the alphabet. I spent the conversation hoping to avoid any demonstrations, and wanting to say, "I've no doubt you're awfully cool, but these just aren't skills that I value."