As I said, it's an experience thing. =] Everyone goes through it... some faster than others, some later than others, but we all get there.
A big problem is that many people seem to lack the foresight to realize that not only were they mistaken in the past, but they may be mistaken in the present. People assume that where they currently are is the superlative rather than realizing that their past failings make obvious that they are probably not as right as they think they are right now. I'm a headstrong guy and feel confident about my opinions because I spend a lot of time thinking about them, but I know that not only that I might be wrong, but I probably am. As stubborn as I seem, I like seeing other points of view.
We all go through it. It's an experience thing - we never know just how much we don't know. The only difference with older people is that they've already experienced so many situations where they found out they don't know enough. By that point we just say "You know what, okay, I thought I knew it all but now I realise how wrong I was. I would think I know everything now if it wasn't for all those other times I thought that..."
I'm an idiotic double poster.
I was being partly sarcastic and partly barbed. I agree with you though about giving advice to teenagers. I actually took out a snarky comment about how teenagers think they know more than jaded old people with real life experience since it was a little too harsh and addressed the person more than the thread. I think as I get older and more misanthropic, I just don't even try for the tactful, gentle approach to giving teenagers advice on EoEO. They won't listen, so I mostly just dump my uncensored opinion about the issue knowing that it will be ignored. The more ludicrous the issue, the more likely I am to just say "aww f*** it" and just go for broke. I try to be reasonable with people who aren't saying over-the-top idiotic things (e.g. "I know everything I need to know at 16). My god... I would stab 16 year-old me in the side of the neck for being such an abortion of a human being. In a few years I'm sure I'll think the present me was an ignorant idiot and a douche.
For what it's worth, in response to your post in the Marriage thread: There's no rule against giving strongly worded advice so long as it is done in a mature way that fits the rules of the forum in general (don't spam, don't flame, don't insult, etc. etc. etc.). I would say however that strongly worded advice from people on the internet is probably not going to be the kind of advice that changes a teenager's mind, although I guess we all know that on some level. Usually the more subtle variations in advice can be very effective, but that's neither here nor there in that thread, so I figured I'd just drop this here instead of in the thread.
