Some young adults I communicate with, here on PC, seem lost. I've been thinking about this for a while. I'm in my 60's now. So it's been a few years since I was a young adult. And I can sort-of remember being somewhat bewildered by life at that time.

I had graduated from high school & the Vietnam war was in full swing. I had managed, somehow, to get myself into the local college, despite my high school grades. But I was seriously underwhelmed with higher education. So I was in-&-out of college. And whenever I was out, my friends & neighbors on the local draft board would begin chasing my ***** around. They had a one-way ticket, with my name on it, to the rice paddies in southeast Asia. I was already weighted down with depression, anxiety & GID. I'd been bullied, both verbally & physically, throughout junior & senior high school. I was, & would continue to be, a mess although I didn't realize it.

Despite all of this, though, I don't recall ever feeling like I was a complete failure & that no one & nothing could ever help. I had my dreams. True, that's all they were. But despite that, I had them. And so, even though I felt bewildered much of the time, I don't recall feeling completely hopeless. (That would come many years later.) This, however, is the perspective at least some young people today seem to have. They are completely desperate & convinced there is no hope. Nothing one can say seems to help.

Now, I'm sure this is not the way all young adults feel today. Perhaps those who do constitute only a tiny minority of young adults today. And just because I didn't feel completely hopeless (even though I pretty much was) this doesn't necessarily mean there weren't young adults back then who felt this way. So I could be quite off the mark here. But it does concern me. I keep trying to think of what one could say to a young adult who feels absolutely hopeless to help them to lift themselves back up. So far, I haven't come up with anything. What do you think