I Beg to Differ

You know, that was the title of one of my high school year books, and I never understood why the yearbook staff chose that phrase, but I think I do now.
I honestly was perplexed when I read the engraving on my beloved annual tradition. Why would I be begging to be different? What does that even mean? What the? :/

I actually thought of this phrase tonight during a conversation over some wine ... Are my current experiences that similar to that of my parents? the Baby Boomers? Did they really do what I'm doing now, only in a different time? Did they actually feel the same pains, joys, confusion? I don't know? Some might say yes, but I beg to differ. Each generation weaves its own web.

I've never been married or divorced, I have no kids, no mortgage, but I have had many other types of glorious trials and errors. I know what it means to have lost, to have heartbreak, to start over, to soul-search for some reality ... But this isn't about trying to find myself. I know who I am, I'm trying to decipher what direction I should journey.

I think we all have had some variation of life's circumstances, but no single person is alike or had the same set of life experiences. And for some, a series of unfortunate events happen at once, so by the time you're 30, -2, -3, -4, you've had enough suffering for a lifetime. No one would know what it's like to lose a loved one, unless it's happened to them. No one would understand what it means to be unemployed without any savings or health insurance, unless it happened to them. No one would know what it meant to have people judge you because you are "still single" and not on the path to marriage while in your 30s, unless they've endured it.
I mean, my struggle isn't yours? But, it's not to say you can't relate. I'm just saying, our lives are not cookie cutter suburban houses. They are a collection of random dwellings that come in all shapes and sizes.

Just because you were 30-something once doesn't mean you have the answers to my dilemma today. I can't do X, Y, Z and get what you had at my age today. The honest truth is it's not the same playing field and it's definitely not level. Society; the global world is playing a different game. The competition is more than fierce, it can be down right lethal. And, if you let it, life's unexpectedness can sucker punch you, but the test is whether you have the strength to fight back and kick life in the shin.

The differences is what distinguishes each from the other.