Boomers, give Gen Z a break
I’m 70 years old with two children in their 20s, and so, in my circle of acquaintances, I hear a lot of complaints that begin with the words “kids these days.” Mostly, my peers bemoan the laziness of the younger generation, how its members are unwilling to do the kind of hard work that made their parents and grandparents into such fine citizens. These kids are constantly on their phones!
They can’t make change at a checkout counter without the help of a machine. They can’t read or write cursive. They’re addicted to video games; they’ve pierced everything that’s pierceable and some things that shouldn’t be pierced; they’re not sure whether they’re male or female and seem to want to be both. What kind of future are we going to have with people like that running the show?
A future a lot like the present, I want to say. Maybe even a little better.
Those kinds always put me in mind of complaints I heard as a boy: that my friends and I were addicted to TV (or the idiot box as my parents called it); that we didn’t have any idea what it was like to live through the Depression and a world war; that our bodies and minds were too soft, our desires too refined. We were, in short, spoiled.
In time, however, most of us baby boomers turned out, well, not so bad. As we matured, we relegated our TVwatching to scraps of free time; we suffered through our own challenges, even if those challenges paled in comparison to the Depression and the war years; most of us ended up rising early to go to work, for decades. We supported our children, contributed to the world in various ways, and learned to accept limits on our desires and appreciate our comforts.
Today’s younger generations will follow that same trajectory. Yes, it’s true the millennials and Gen-Zers probably can’t read or write cursive and have no idea what it was like to compose a novel on a typewriter or change the oil in their own cars. True, also, they often can’t make the quick calculations required to give a customer the correct change. They are on their phones a lot, even while driving (two years ago, my wife, Amanda, and I were violently rear-ended by a young person on her phone; our car was totaled).
But they can order an Uber or a takeout meal with a few taps of their thumbs. They can easily resolve our confusions with the TV remote or a software program. More importantly, they’re keenly aware of the environmental degradation my generation both hastened and took for granted; they’re much more accepting of individual choice of lifestyle; and they’re often more cognizant of national and international politics.
Are the younger generations composed of perfect human specimens? Hardly. But maybe those of us in the older generation should be a notch less critical and two notches more humble. To any objective eye the world we’re leaving these young “do-nothings” appears to be a big mess: political ineffectiveness, environmental ruin, rampant homelessness, a vast and increasing gap between the haves and have-nots.
My generation, of course, had the best music (The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Queen). Let there be no argument about that. The decade that spawned our music didn’t really usher in a kinder, gentler, more loving world, as we hoped it would. But we boomers made some changes (let’s start with women’s rights), opened some minds, spread some joy. Despite their quirks and habits, our young folks will do the same. I’m sure of it.
As one of the many great bands of our era noted years ago: The kids are alright. It was true then. It’s still true today.
Maybe those of us in the older generation should be a notch less critical and two notches more humble.