Why did no one tell me?

That life was like this?

Who told you about sex?

Who taught you about love?

Who told you about pain?

Who helped you learn about being an adult?

Who shared with you how to make relationships work?

Actually the list is usually quite long

And when you think about it no one really helped you with many of the most important things in life

Being let down

Being cheated, lied to, betrayed

Abused

Having divorced parents

Having to move so often

And this list could go on as well

So many aspects of our adult lives are untouched by any clear insights or formal teaching

Many of them are admittedly difficult

Many are controversial

Many might be dangerous because they touch upon sensitive areas

We can find excuses but when society depends upon all it's members behaving within norms in order to function we have to wonder why society itself makes so few efforts to address some of these issues

A simple observation is that it is ill equipped to do so

Imagine government civil servants teaching love

Teaching about caring and sharing, no we all agree it would be a nightmare

Absolutely they are ill equipped so better leave them out of it

It does then put the focus on parents, friends and teachers

Friends share because they also are trying to learn, however little items like jealousy and envy often get in the way

Teachers are often under pressure to conform to full syllabuses and have little time or inclination to go into possibly dangerous areas.

Many teachers went from school to university back into school again and so are often light on life experience themselves

So we come to parents

Bless them they fell in love, conceived and raised you as best they could

They were busy trying to make ends meet

Tired often after coming home from work

Think about it most parents have little or no idea themselves

They too muddled their way through adolescence into adulthood

They too received little help with understanding those difficult things of life

Is it any wonder we get things wrong or are clumsy?

So find it in yourself to forgive your parents if they to were clumsy or ill informed

Make it your job to try and do better

Come to think of it isn't that what every generation says?

Life