6-7 years old. Some barbarian type older kids pounced on my little cousin (5) and stole her candy money. She came back crying, so I walked her, back to the store, to show me where those heathens were. I went to their house and asked for the mother. Mother comes out and I told her to "discipline her kids" that "my Dad would sue her and put her kids in jail". She did stifle a laugh at the moxie of it all, but promised she would take care of her errant kids. (Everyone else in the fam had said let it go, you can get hurt.)
I learned that standing up for the right thing AND having the moxie to fight for it (with words first) is likely genetic. You either have it or not.
Your mother must have had the same programming as mine. She told me around the same age as you, "One person can't do anything to change the world, so just focus on other things."
Haha that's so funny. My little sister was sent to the principal's office because she wouldn't sign the no smoking pledge in 3rd grade. She kept saying, "I can't make that kind of promise, so it would be a lie." LOL. She never did take up smoking. But she might!
I remember disagreeing and taking offense to the following:
When during Sunday mass the Priests would say we were guilty of being 'born with original sin' and had to be forever sorry and pray for forgiveness (for something we didn't ourselves do), and;
That we should recite the prayer that included the phrase, '...I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed' (inferring that we well-behaved, praying and obedient children were not worthy of God because of something someone else did thousands of years ago.)
I disagreed so strongly with these two statements that I vowed to never return to a church who claimed these statements as truth when I was old enough to choose for myself.
Ever the studious child, I argued with my science teacher that I believed that planet earth was not the only planet with intelligent life and that in the vast sky above, there had to be unlimited planets with life! At that time, the Encyclopedia Britannica was the best source for information on 'everything' and we had one at home, but found to my dismay that there was very little published on this subject.
My teacher stated with all sincerity that 'Scientists have looked and looked with their telescopes and found no other planets in the universe other than the ones in our solar system, and that Earth was the only one with life on it.'
It took 37 years after that conversation for the first extra solar planet (planet outside our solar system) to be found, and now, nearly 60 years later Scientists state the following:
"As of 12 October 2023, there are 5,528 confirmed exoplanets in 4,115 planetary systems, with 934 systems having more than one planet. Most of these were discovered by the Kepler space telescope."
Before being a "Snowflake" was a bad thing I was told by my parents that we are all like snowflakes in that no two are alike and we are each responsible for our own thinking and actions.
Around age 5~7
I first noticed how pointless life was when all I saw were people going to work, coming home to pay off a house on mortgage and growing old only to do things or feeling regret over not doing things when they were younger. I already came to the "people are sheep" conclusion internally by then
Then in high school I noticed how the education system was really a sham to get us students used to imprisonment, and that schools themselves were glorified prisons. Teachers are the wardens. Noticed the difference in how much I could learn at my own pace at home over how controlled it was in school
But after high school until the last few years recently I kinda kept my head down, and kept these things in the back of my mind. Wanted to enjoy life and be social - because I was still young. Then again in the last few recent years I really got into investing. And from there confirming for myself all of the blatant corruption in the financial sector, it's links to the political, and then remembering all the things from when I was a kid that I had put aside in my mind. Which has more or less led me to be more active and involved with what's going on now
I only know I wasn't a sheep in retrospect, and now I can't remember being anything other than an independent thinker. For example, a few otherwise nice kids in Jr. High caved to some mean girl pressure to ostracize the new 6th grader, and they tried me to get me to go along. When I told them no way, they tried to ostracize me, but for some reason I just didn't care. They got bored with it and apologized.
I remember watching the black and white video of young women screaming and crying about the Beatles and thinking, "Something is very wrong with this it's like they are brainwashed." Screaming and chanting at concerts in general is so embarrassing to me. I have never been able to buy the "it" thing, even back in day it was a "Members Only" jacket. Sometimes even when a product is arguably objectively superior, if it has a lemming following, I have an aversion to it automatically. The sorority thing in college was so bizarre to me. I could go on and on. I think it's born not made tbh.
In preschool asking the teacher in school why the flag was blowing on the (fake) moon landing when they told us there's no wind/atmosphere on the moon, and who was already ON the moon filming the space ship landing, and how did that rover fit inside the space ship?
6-7 years old. Some barbarian type older kids pounced on my little cousin (5) and stole her candy money. She came back crying, so I walked her, back to the store, to show me where those heathens were. I went to their house and asked for the mother. Mother comes out and I told her to "discipline her kids" that "my Dad would sue her and put her kids in jail". She did stifle a laugh at the moxie of it all, but promised she would take care of her errant kids. (Everyone else in the fam had said let it go, you can get hurt.)
I learned that standing up for the right thing AND having the moxie to fight for it (with words first) is likely genetic. You either have it or not.
When I was around 15, my Mother told me I needed to stop trying to save the world. I’ve been a little rebel ever since.
Your mother must have had the same programming as mine. She told me around the same age as you, "One person can't do anything to change the world, so just focus on other things."
When I came home from school after a D.A.R.E. assembly and my parent taught me about “the state” and why we don’t tell them things….
Haha that's so funny. My little sister was sent to the principal's office because she wouldn't sign the no smoking pledge in 3rd grade. She kept saying, "I can't make that kind of promise, so it would be a lie." LOL. She never did take up smoking. But she might!
I love it! …but she might lol
At around age 9.
I remember disagreeing and taking offense to the following:
I disagreed so strongly with these two statements that I vowed to never return to a church who claimed these statements as truth when I was old enough to choose for myself.
Then at age 10:
My teacher stated with all sincerity that 'Scientists have looked and looked with their telescopes and found no other planets in the universe other than the ones in our solar system, and that Earth was the only one with life on it.'
It took 37 years after that conversation for the first extra solar planet (planet outside our solar system) to be found, and now, nearly 60 years later Scientists state the following:
"As of 12 October 2023, there are 5,528 confirmed exoplanets in 4,115 planetary systems, with 934 systems having more than one planet. Most of these were discovered by the Kepler space telescope."
My mom would say I was in the womb
When I was 30. 18 years ago.
about 12
Damn at 12 I was just worried about my hoo hoo.
I was today minus ~30 years
About 3, I didn't need shearing.
Nice!
Right from the start.
Before being a "Snowflake" was a bad thing I was told by my parents that we are all like snowflakes in that no two are alike and we are each responsible for our own thinking and actions.
In the before times...
Around age 5~7 I first noticed how pointless life was when all I saw were people going to work, coming home to pay off a house on mortgage and growing old only to do things or feeling regret over not doing things when they were younger. I already came to the "people are sheep" conclusion internally by then
Then in high school I noticed how the education system was really a sham to get us students used to imprisonment, and that schools themselves were glorified prisons. Teachers are the wardens. Noticed the difference in how much I could learn at my own pace at home over how controlled it was in school
But after high school until the last few years recently I kinda kept my head down, and kept these things in the back of my mind. Wanted to enjoy life and be social - because I was still young. Then again in the last few recent years I really got into investing. And from there confirming for myself all of the blatant corruption in the financial sector, it's links to the political, and then remembering all the things from when I was a kid that I had put aside in my mind. Which has more or less led me to be more active and involved with what's going on now
17 when I was 2 weeks to young to vote for Ronald Reagan in 1980
BAAAAAAut 25.
You merely adopted not being a sheep.
I was born in it, molded by it.
About two.
38... in 2020
I only know I wasn't a sheep in retrospect, and now I can't remember being anything other than an independent thinker. For example, a few otherwise nice kids in Jr. High caved to some mean girl pressure to ostracize the new 6th grader, and they tried me to get me to go along. When I told them no way, they tried to ostracize me, but for some reason I just didn't care. They got bored with it and apologized. I remember watching the black and white video of young women screaming and crying about the Beatles and thinking, "Something is very wrong with this it's like they are brainwashed." Screaming and chanting at concerts in general is so embarrassing to me. I have never been able to buy the "it" thing, even back in day it was a "Members Only" jacket. Sometimes even when a product is arguably objectively superior, if it has a lemming following, I have an aversion to it automatically. The sorority thing in college was so bizarre to me. I could go on and on. I think it's born not made tbh.
I was taught from a very young age by my father and mother to not follow the crowd, but to think for myself.
In preschool asking the teacher in school why the flag was blowing on the (fake) moon landing when they told us there's no wind/atmosphere on the moon, and who was already ON the moon filming the space ship landing, and how did that rover fit inside the space ship?