Talking about my Generation...

I often feel that I don’t belong to my own generation. Sometimes I like to be in the company of people older than myself and more often, those younger than me. The truth is, people of my age bore me. They are growing increasingly vapid and colorless. Concerned only with what to be doing in the next hour. Always having to prove their existence.It seems futile. There is no time for introspection, for thought. Being in their own company for too long makes them nervous and jittery. They confuse me. Paradoxically driven to get to the finish line yet intent on not using up so much energy that it gets in the way of a good booze/drug/pleasure binge, they are befuddled and incoherent. The generation before us however had and has too much to think about. Too much time to regret, rehash archaic ideas. It can be tiresome, even though you admittedly learn something.

The ‘children’ of today. Well they baffle me at times. I can never wrap my mind around the fact that they are so clever, so with it. A child of 12 now boasts of giving her ‘bra’ to her ‘boyfriend’. Two B words I would have thought forbidden to a girl just past the single digit in her life. They are really quite extraordinary. They are bored restless. They need a guidance and direction they are simply not receiving from the generation before them (that would be mine). i feel sorry for them although they are rude and possess the attention span for 4 yr. olds (no offence to the 4 yr. olds of course. They are quite charming as they are!) Brimming over with potential, keenness fresh, glorious youth; and it all spills over and runs into the street to dry out. What a waste.

They are actually desperate for a positive push and shove so they expend the energy and use minds more developed than ours had ever been.

They are the ones who can truly rebuild the world, reinvent it and haul this disintegrating society into some semblance of creative civilization.

 At least, I hope that is their future. I shudder to think what would happen if they turn out like us. And if they don’t realize the potential, well the ones after them are definitely a force to be reckoned with. My nephew is already an expert at taking clear, balanced photographs with a digital camera at the age of five and my four year old niece has big plans for her calling as an animal rights activist. Their acute intelligence probably won’t even need a shove and push. They’re all set to take over the world. 

And yes I know all the 30 year olds complain that they didn’t receive the enlightened style of parenting that could have made them unique, precocious. What are you going to do? We are no doubt a product of a disillusioned era and have for most of our adult lives floundered in a sea of confused ideals and hypocritical values and immense mediocrity. But that is our legacy. We need not pass it on to today’s young people. I take a look at myself and think about all the passion and zest for life I had 15 yrs. ago. There’s no need to let go of it. And a zest for life does not mean wiling time away in intoxicated oblivion or frivolous larks. Sorry, we aren’t 18 anymore. Face it and enjoy the same love for living in a 35 year old mind and body. It’s really not so bad. And keep a look out for the ones running ahead of us in all their high spirits and vitality. They deserve all the sunshine we can give them. 

After all, who else will take care of us when we are senile and annoying?