Yesterday, I was at the Warped Tour. For all you adults that have no clue what this is, it's a music festival that travels around North America, with mostly bands that have large teenage audiences. Such genres of music in this festival include punk, rock, emo, ska, screamo, pop, etc.
I have never in my life seen so many teenagers crowded together in the same place. It was as if everyone left MySpace for a day and decided to venture outside. It was weird.
I would guess that over 30,000 people came to see the shows. I could be completely wrong, and there could be alot more, given that I'm horrible at guessing.
Anyway, the point I wanted to make was that each ticket costs $50, which means that the tour makes alot of money each day, considering that I myself spent $60 on merchandise, I would have bought more stuff, if I had more money, but I'm broke now. Now this is a bit extreme for me, spending $40 on two T-shirts. In total, I spent over $110 in a single day. Hard-earned money that I made myself. I'm just wondering, does that justify my purchases, since I earned the money? If it was money from parents, would I be considered a spoiled brat?
Yesterday, I watched the thousands of kids walk around with their strange fashions, clothes that would become untrendy within 2 years and would then be thrown out. A waste. But I realized that these kids were reflections of me. I'm a consumer just like each and every one of them.
Sometimes, I feel that the future generation of kids is pretty screwed. I mean, all we do is consume. Looking back, I haven't done anything for the world really. Except volunteer at various children's summer camps, and household chores. I feel kind of guilty because of my lack of contributions to the world.
I think I'm at that line, if there is a line, of being between child and grown-up. I'm starting to think ahead to "Is this really a worthwhile purchase? Will I wear this T-Shirt 5 years from now?" But at the same time, I want to be like a child and buy everything that I like. I feel that since this is the last of my childhood (I'm going into college in a month), I have to live it to the fullest, and that includes everything from attending full-day concerts to spending money buying band merch, because that's what a normal teenager would do. I don't want to be 30 years old and regretting everything I didn't do. That would suck.
I write this now so that 10 years later, when I'm almost 30, I can remember how I felt to be 17 years old in 2008, about to enter college. It felt liberating almost, to let go and act like a crazy teenager for a day, dancing in the rain, soaked and freezing. I wonder what I'll be doing 10 years later, will I think I was young and stupid?
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