generation gap
Some years ago I noticed I was an "old fart" to the folks I would have liked to have been peers with at burning man.... and at the same time I was a "know-nothing young brat" to other would-be peers in a different group. It put me in a mind to really try to get at the nub of what's going on when we say 'generation gap'.
The other day I thought of this again when I was walking my (elderly) dog. Another dog saw us, and was jumping almost high enough to clear the fence between us. I saw how effortlessly it made those leaps, as if energy was never going to be in short supply, and I remembered my own impatience with the physically infirm, when I was that old in human years.
There's no sugarcoating this: the young and the old are not very kind to each other. When I was young, I had nothing but disdain for my peer group,they seemed vapid compared to adults. Now that I'm an old fart, I feel disdain for my peer group still, because unlike the young, we should remember being there, we should know better! And yet I think what's really going on, is envy, maybe even jealousy, for that feeling of immortality we can no longer afford.
"Youth is wasted on the young"- what a contemptible, bigoted thing to say! Yet it passes for accepted wisdom for those above a certain age. I remember how hurt I used to feel when I was judged too young to be interesting to someone I thought I might learn from.
No doubt, I'm guilty of nostalgia here, since I don't remember what a pain in the ass I was back then. And in those rare moments when an elder tried to give me some reasonable advice, did I listen? (trick question! 'reasonable' changes over time)
I don't know, there's still something I am missing here. It still seems stupid for the older set to expect kudos for simply having survived this long. (not as hard as it used to be!) And it certainly doesn't help that society has decided that old people and young people belong in completely separate ghettos.
That's as far as I can take this at this hour. More later.... maybe....
The other day I thought of this again when I was walking my (elderly) dog. Another dog saw us, and was jumping almost high enough to clear the fence between us. I saw how effortlessly it made those leaps, as if energy was never going to be in short supply, and I remembered my own impatience with the physically infirm, when I was that old in human years.
There's no sugarcoating this: the young and the old are not very kind to each other. When I was young, I had nothing but disdain for my peer group,they seemed vapid compared to adults. Now that I'm an old fart, I feel disdain for my peer group still, because unlike the young, we should remember being there, we should know better! And yet I think what's really going on, is envy, maybe even jealousy, for that feeling of immortality we can no longer afford.
"Youth is wasted on the young"- what a contemptible, bigoted thing to say! Yet it passes for accepted wisdom for those above a certain age. I remember how hurt I used to feel when I was judged too young to be interesting to someone I thought I might learn from.
No doubt, I'm guilty of nostalgia here, since I don't remember what a pain in the ass I was back then. And in those rare moments when an elder tried to give me some reasonable advice, did I listen? (trick question! 'reasonable' changes over time)
I don't know, there's still something I am missing here. It still seems stupid for the older set to expect kudos for simply having survived this long. (not as hard as it used to be!) And it certainly doesn't help that society has decided that old people and young people belong in completely separate ghettos.
That's as far as I can take this at this hour. More later.... maybe....