YOLO: America’s Ironic Catch Phrase

My nails dug into the soft rubber of the steering wheel as I leaned forward and pressed firmly on the accelerator. They had passed us, and the immediate surge of anger and humiliation ratcheted my competitive drive into top gear. Without thinking, I moved over into the lane of oncoming traffic as we climbed up the steep hill. They couldn’t see it coming. We were regaining the lead.

They slowed to a halt, jumped out and ran over to us.

As it turned out, I was the one that couldn’t see it coming. And with nowhere to go, the innocent non-combatant crested the hill in line with our path to victory, wiping it away in a head-on (injury-free) collision.

Growing up I learned the wisdom of better safe than sorry. Even if forgotten at times, the phrase was a constant reminder. Contrast that to the lifestyle of today’s emboldened youth, the YOLO generation, and it’s hard to imaging the implications. Oddly, it’s not our youth, but rather our elders plotting a dangerous one-shot trajectory for our nation, and the world. Their paralleled nonchalance (everyone errs) impedes our country’s efforts to lead, to confront the subversive, mounting catastrophe of environmental neglect.

Even if you wanted to doubt the existence of global warming or its causes, you have to be reckless to ignore the threat it presents. And yeah, the metaphor breaks down. This is everyone’s first experience with manipulating the environment on a global scale. We are just learning the rules of the road, even as we drive for the first time. But, let’s not claim an excuse to act like children.

We know that this is new. The newness gave us our doubts in the first place.

Maturity and experience suggest we proceed with caution. If you think you see an oncoming car, you slow down. Now we know you old folks like to have fun too, but let’s take our foot of the gas this time. Better safe than sorry.