to put yourself in others shoes is a gift. when i lived in Prague i did this many times and always came to an epiphany of some sort.
When i was overseas i felt alienated from an environment that i became used to. because i was able to put myself in anothers’ shoes i think i made a lot more friends and was able to picture myself at their level and not from sitting on a horse and looking down at them.
you’ve thought about all the -in the box- situations. now challenge your mind further. think of what it might be like to own your own island and be some big exec at a software company….picture the sand between your toes and the distant sounds of the gulls as the sun sets on another day. if you can picture yourself outside of the box; i would be humbled.

I had similar problems, I still do. People don’t take me seriously.

At this point, it bothers me less because I have given up trying to help people. If someone asks, I’ll help them. But I don’t really get involved too much anymore unless people want me there. And if they don’t act like they want me there, I leave.

I’m not unhappy with this situation as I realize this is how people are; they don’t really want help except in rare cases. I live for the rare times when I actually can be of use to people.

As for the older generation, I respect them and respect everybody, but unfortunately they didn’t used to live in our ‘open-source-informational- era’ so they cann’t cope with us in but we should be patient with them. On the other hand, if they are parents, they just see us as their children whether we are approaching 30s or passing it so let it go; they are parents.