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'Trouble with young people' is just generational
"Our children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter instead of exercise." "Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers." "They've gone soft and lazy; they want the easy life and they don't want to work for anything. Young people today are materialistic and shallow, too attached to their technology and disconnected from reality." "Today's generation really frightens me. They are indolent and have grown up in such comfort that they can't imagine working an honest day. People used to work a lot harder and were more dedicated, ethical, moral, and community minded." I've heard or read all of these complaints about today's youth since arriving back in school as an administrator. Lots of folks are genuinely worried about today's youth. If you're one of those losing sleep about the state of young people today in their baggy britches with electronic devices stuck in their ears, be reassured. The quote this column began with is attributed to Socrates and is more than 2,500 years old. You may be comforted too by knowing with all the change we witness in today's world, one constant is old people complain about young people. Rest assured, no matter what your age, when you were a teenager there were old folks lamenting the end of the world as we know it because of the sorry state of the young people (you and your friends). Now, we've all grown up to be like those that complained about us. Do we really now think we are witnessing the ruination of our great American values? If it makes you feel any better consider this: those kids you grumble about will one day be grumbling about a future generation of teenagers. The age-old secret pact of teenagers is that you must annoy, infuriate, aggravate, and ultimately exasperate your elders. You dress weird, listen to music guaranteed to upset old folks, slouch, slump, slide, and slack along just to be sure you're getting the goat of every geezer in sight. (Note: An adequate definition of geezer might be those who complain about the current generation of young people the more you complain the more geezerly you become.) Well, throw off that old geezer attitude! I can assure you all with the greatest confidence that our kids are not slackers or disconnected gadget freaks, clueless about the "real world." They are not averse to hard work and they are very concerned about the state of our country, environment, and world. They are in fact an awful lot like you and I were at their age. Sure, there are sometimes obvious marks of immaturity, but what would you expect from young people; they are young, i.e. not mature by definition. Mostly, I witness young people who are enjoying their lives but also live with deep concerns about the world around them. These young people grew up in an age when horrors like Columbine, Virginia Tech, and 9-11 were piped into their homes live and uninterrupted. They generally want to make the world a better place to live and most are willing to sacrifice their desires for the betterment of the world around them. We, the older generations of our world, have left them challenges aplenty like environmental problems, government deficits, and a polarized international world that often distrusts America and even more often dislikes us, crushing poverty, and the spread of nuclear weapons. If they ever seem goofy or silly to your eyes, remember we've left them plenty on which they can worry. What I want folks to know most is how genuine, good, idealistic, and hopeful most of our young people are today. I'm not pessimistic about the future but heartened when I see tomorrow's leaders and the talents, intelligence, and commitment they exhibit. I look forward with optimism to see what they will accomplish: diseases cured, a hungry world fed, peace-- who knows?--Lance Bolton is a guest columnist.
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