Being young deserves to be golden
Time does funny things with memory, magnifying events that should have been forgettable, diminishing moments that, when thoughtfully considered, changed a person forever.
Nevertheless, I choose to treat as fact my recollection that I was lucky to be young in this city where the most I had to worry about was an ass-kicking from the Catholic kids at Saint Thomas Aquinas School or getting Ided at the Lord Nelson Tavern.
Nobody I knew ever got shivved. The closest thing to a bomb scare was when someone mixed up some ammonium sulfide, vinegar and bicarbonate in chemistry class and unleashed the rotten egg smell into the hallways as a lark.
Now, I fully accept that my experience was not that of every kid who grew up in the ’60s and ’70s. And, that my teenaged years were as aimless, awkward, and confused as that of any Degrassi High student.
But all we know is what we think we know. And I remember growing up in Halifax — in a calm, comfortable home, a target of no bullying or prejudices because of my gender, race, religion, or sexuality — as a golden time.
My hope is that the young of today will feel the same when they reach my venerable age. I wonder, though, I really do.
WORLD CHANGED
COVID changed everything for everyone. The restrictions had to be hardest on the young, who in normal circumstances, would be getting their first real taste of freedom instead of sitting in their bedrooms learning online or walking school hallways masked and socially distanced.
At the same time, the world seems more dangerous for a young person. By that I mean the fatal stabling of Citadel High School student Ahmad Maher Al Marrach last week, but also a recent non-fatal stabbing in a bus terminal, and slew of bomb scares this week forcing schools to be evacuated.
When I was growing up, during the final years of the Cold War, every so often school kids had to crouch under their desks and cover their heads with their hands, as practice for the terrible moment when a nuclear bomb was dropped.
Now, when Halifax schools run their lockdown drills — in which the classroom doors are locked and the lights turned off — it is so the teachers and students know what to do if a live shooter, or some other threat, is outside roaming the halls.
INCREASING THREATS
It could be worse of course. Legislators in Tennessee recently passed a bill allowing teachers and school staff in the state to be armed so long as they meet certain conditions including 40 hours of gun training, a background check and psychological exam.
The threat of nuclear annihilation, alas, hasn’t disappeared. The New York Times has reported that in the Fall of 2022, U.S. intelligence thought there was a 50-50 chance that Russia would launch a nuclear strike if Ukrainian forces made enough inroads into Crimea.
Even if they do not fear a nuke falling, the youth of today know that war, death, and misery is devastating the Middle East as well as Europe and that political polarization is worsening everywhere.
CLIMATE CHANGE
They also understand the threat that climate change presents to their futures — one of the reasons along with those mentioned above that experts cite for the global rise in anxiety among the young.
How could they not fear environmental Armageddon?
The evidence is everywhere they look in real life where they see the wildfires, flooding, and increased storm activity, but also on the social media platforms around which their days and nights revolve.
The overarching role that social media and technology plays in their lives — the way it can diminish strong inperson relationships and fuel feelings of inadequacy and social comparison — is a central theme in the World Economic Forum’s latest World Happiness Report, released last month, which makes for ominous reading.
It points out that since 2006 levels of happiness reported by youth have declined in North America, South America, Europe, South Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa.
“Young people worldwide,” the report concludes, “now report lower happiness levels than their elders.”
It is worth noting that the gulf is significant in Canada. Our over-60s rank sixth out of 143 countries examined in terms of happiness. When it comes to people under the age of 30, Canada’s falls to 58th globally.
UNSTABLE ECONOMICS
There is a sad logic to that. Old-timers, by virtue of merely having gotten into the real estate market when such a thing was possible, are moving with reasonable comfort into old age.
It’s a different story for the young, dependent upon the gig economy and less-stable work situations, facing some of the highest apartment rents in the country in Halifax, and the challenge of buying into a housing market where the average house now fetches north of $500,000.
“Student loan debt and stagnant wages further squeeze their finances,” said the authors of the World Economic Forum report, “delaying milestones like home ownership and starting families, which contribute to feelings of accomplishment and stability.”
We didn’t know how easy we had it, reaching maturity at a time when hope of a job with security and a pension was realistic, and home ownership was within a person’s reach.
My memory is that we just blithely stumbled along, and things often just looked after themselves. The kind of satisfaction we took for granted in the early years is more elusive now.
ATTAINABLE GOALS
But it can be attained, according to the World Economic Forum. Among the measures it urges: bolstering mental health supports for younger people; widespread social media reforms including steps to make the experience safer and healthier; an increased emphasis on teaching “life skills” along with the traditional ABCS in schools.
We are taking steps in the right direction. Last June, the Nova Scotia government announced that it was spending $3.2 million to provide young Nova Scotians and their families with easier access to mental health and addiction support.
In the most recent federal budget, Ottawa announced a $500-million fund to help community health organizations provide more mental health care to young people.
That is to go with the bill the federal government tabled in February designed to protect Canadians, particularly youth, from online harm.
That is where we start. It shouldn’t be where we stop. Saying we should do more to ensure young people have more positive experiences and fewer bad ones is the broadest kind of statement.
Except you’re only young once. It deserves to be the best of times.