To The Older Generations: You Were Once Just Like Us

            The other day I was thinking a lot about the activism from the youth during the 60s: the civil rights movement, war protests. But what I realized was that generation were the baby boomers. I jokingly asked Mr. Leff “What happened? They used to be so cool!” For our generation, baby boomers are the generation that symbolizes the epitome of the old conservatives who benefited from the economy when it was good, got good jobs, cheap education, and were able to live out the “American Dream” while screwing the rest of us over.

I think that older generations just need to be reminded that they were once in our position. They were young and had hope for the future, but also wanted to have fun. Our generation is no different than the previous ones during their youth, only the circumstances surrounding our adolescence has changed. I think adults often forget that the world we are growing up in is fundamentally different than theirs was and therefore we will have a completely different childhood experience than they did. I think this frustration is often brought up in the context of college debt where adults expect students to be able to pay their way through college if they work hard enough simply because they were able to. In actuality, the price of college has gone up much more than minimum wage has, and in order to work their way through college, students today would have to work many more hours than students did in the 70s.

There is also a long history of older generations making fun of the youth at the time, criticizing them and shaking their heads saying “kids these days.” Think about the students protesting the Vietnam War in the 60’s and all the adults who criticized them for being unpatriotic; how essentially every generation was criticized for their music being too inappropriate (Footloose, anybody?). The same things are said about us that were said about them, and it’s important for older generations to remember that they were once also in our shoes. Nowadays, adults talk about “kids and their smartphones and technology these days” as if their parents weren’t saying the same things about them playing videogames in the 90s or watching Madonna on MTV in the 80s. I remember reading an article talking about teenagers’ usage of social media (which will never not make me angry, the hypocrisy), but comparing it to the fact that teenagers have a lot less freedom these days than, say 30 years ago. Teenagers are doing so many more activities and extra-curriculars, and many don’t have part-time jobs or their own cars like many past generations. Again, this is just a reflection of how times have changed, but the article makes the point that teenagers these days use social media to bridge the gap where previous generations might have gone out together, because that’s not as feasible today.

            This obviously doesn’t apply to everybody, but I think some older people are still in a mindset of thinking about themselves rather than future generations. I once jokingly mentioned to my aunt that there should be an age limit on voting where after you pass a certain age you can’t vote because you won’t be around long enough to experience the consequences of your political decisions. Instead of laughing, my aunt seemed to seriously consider that suggestion and then turned to me and asked why that wasn’t a thing. Of course this is an exaggeration but I think that the idea that the world belongs to your children and future generations is so important. Maybe I just feel this way because I currently am that future generation, but what I really wish is that older generations would look at us as the future and put hope and faith in us, rather than putting us down and telling us that our behavior and thoughts are not good enough or a failure.