When You Were Young

[starpush]

I commented to a friend yesterday that lately I find myself very pro-Generational Warfare. Or, put another way, I find myself embracing the same kind of condescending attitude I used to despise from my elders and throwing it back in the face of those outside of my age range or generation. [For the record, I was born in 1973 and this, as far as I

Comments

[monkeydrvr]

*sings* It's the ciiiirccllle, the circle of liiiife!

Generations spar; it's just what we do. And I think it'll stay that way as long as our world keeps changing so rapidly. It doesn't mean one generation is better than the other. It's just that our frames of reference are different. I think the problems and disconnect come in when the generations refuse to adapt or acknowledge how things are chaning. Prime example: My parents pitched a fit one night when I went out at 10pm because when they were growing up, that's when the night was ending. But to anyone in my generation, it's hardly worth being at a bar before 10pm because that's when things are just getting started.

[starpush]

What are these bars you speak of?

[monkeydrvr]

Oh sorry. I forgot you went through Prohibition. I think they were called speakeasies in your time.

[comicsfan]

You think you'redisconnected--if someone handed me a cell phone, I'd have to take a minute or two to figure out how to operate it.

[starpush]

LOL. Me too. I don't have one. I hate them with a passion and what they've done to a large portion of our culture: The new art of talking a lot and say absolutely nothing.

[gfunk01]

Forget a ten year gap, I'm currently dealing with six. My brother has no idea about the awesomeness of Ninja Turtles, Grunge music, or Clerks. Sigh, it's a tragedy.

That sentence you said though, it is definitely something to think about.

[aquarian_lefty]

I've always felt disconnected. Even when I was young, I didn't harbor any illusions that I belonged to any greater group of people who were going through a common experience. Consequently, I don't really look at the people who are younger than me and feel this disconnect, because I can't really relate to what it would be like to be "with it." I feel like the experiences I've had are valid, and the things I've seen and done and appreciated are pretty cool, and if the young whipper-snappers view our generation as square, bully for them. I guess I view things more on a continuum anyway, and don't really feel like there are these clean breaks where everyone born before this date is like this and everyone born after this date is like that.

But I'm rambling...

[clariyt]

Hmmm. My older son has just bought himself a very fancy mp3 player, made by Sony with the brandname "Walkman", across the bottom of the screen.

Is it them or is it you?! Are you experiencing a hiatus, where you seem to have achieved all your goals, and yet.. and yet..?

If so, it'll pass. You'll move on, change, and certainly, you will still have every right to remember what's went before. My younger son has chosen all his music from what is available on line, and has not been influenced by MTV, or other sources, unlike earlier generations. His favorite is Bob Dylan (Really!) He likes the early stuff, for the quality of the lyrics. He's listening to Spanish Harlem Incident right now, which does indeed have beautiful, powerful lyrics.

Life just doesn't make sense. Sometimes!

[starpush]

No, I have not achieved all my goals. When one goal is accomplished I try to set a new one and sometimes the new ones are more difficult, more expensive, more taxing, etc. But that's life and I know it. :)

It isn't so much things not making sense. It is more the realization that I am far enough removed from one period to have gained some perspective on it and now I find it interesting to watch others younger than myself going through a similar period.