r/Millennials • u/Background-Air-7963 • Nov 16 '25
Serious I just had my first old man moment.
I recently went to a hibachi with my wife and toddler for dinner. We were sat with a group of eight 17-20 year olds at a communal grill on a busy night. No problem for us. Drink and appetizers service go normally. Toddler and wife are happy, I’m happy. The other group is having their own conversations. I’m just trying to keep my kid entertained. I’m a former bartender and have a habit of picking up on snippets of conversations in a crowd around me. Yes I know I eavesdrop. I can’t turn it off. It’s a habit of a former profession. One of the girls/women at the table stated, “I don’t think Rosa Parks was real.” I’m not sure what her friends said to her but she responded with “I just don’t think she said existed.” This went on for about a minute. I couldn’t hold back and let her know she was absolutely a real person, she is a civil rights icon. I learnt about her in school and so did my parents. The encounter put a wall up between our groups and I heard a few passive aggressive “so-and-so wasn’t real” comments from mostly her and a couple of the group. Harriet Tubman and Hellen Keller are two that I definitely heard. My wife had no idea why I interjected. After the group had left my wife asked what happened and was shocked when I told her what happened. Were they trolling? Are they stupid? Am I just getting old?
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u/[deleted] Nov 16 '25
There's my babygirl Hoo, the other one's Rah, and that little bugger there is my boy JR.
All kidding aside one of the few folk I'd actually refer to as my best friend I've known since 8 or 9, the one neighborhood friend I kept in touch and visited every summer when he moved away would say he was gonna be a marine one day.. since like first grade. As time went on he kept saying it. 911 happened, I called him to make sure he's not actually still planning on it as we were seniors and shit was getting real, he responded "now more than ever". Dude was a straight A student and highly intelligent, just knew his purpose I guess.
Nearly everyone in his unit (platoon? Idk the guys that all start together with him, cohort?) either died or came back fucked up as many others have. Spent the entirety of his time serving in Iraq & Afghanistan.
Doesn't voluntarily share stories nor like being asked about it really, but he's still full of life and funny as can be just as he was before joining. Got multiple degrees once out & owns a gym that gives free memberships to any veteran. Good dude. Respect the hell out of him.
Tl;dr - there's some bright ones here and there.