Cross-generation questions
Unable to sleep I cranked up the TV in the juvenile hours of the day and started flipping channels. I landed somewhere I’d never been before and now can’t recall where, which channel.
It was an interesting show in which “millennials,” born in the 1980s and ’90s, offered opinions on general and specific contemporary topics.
What made this cogent was that by using film from the 1960s a host posed similar questions to young people of about the same age.
Those on the 1960s film could be the grandparents of the millenials.
There wasn’t much difference except in a few spots. Today’s uberliberal young people are not offended by being called a “socialist” and are traveling with a full tank of effulgence. The kids from the ’60s were more modest. And polite.
There was another juxtaposition.
Asked by the 1960s host what they would consider a measure of success a young female said she would be a success if she had one of the new Amana gas ranges.
I can handle that. Amana made some really fine appliances, including the first home microwave oven in 1967, the “Radarange.” We had one.
Back to the contemporary stable the question was offered about sharing kitchen responsibilities.
The response was something like this; “I don’t believe in cooking food. You can order food already prepared. You just warm it up.”
I missed the next few seconds while trying to digest that and caught up with her when she said that cooking needlessly used energy.
It is hard for me to imagine a kitchen without a way to cook. No stove? No microwave?
The host asked one of the males about owning a refrigerator and he said it was necessary to keep the beer and orange juice cold.
I don’t think he was serious but just maybe.
Why bother with having a kitchen when ready-to-eat food can be delivered?
I used to enjoy fly-in camping in which a camp was made around airplanes and food was warmed using a solar stove made from a large coffee can.
There are solar ovens that are reputed to be efficient, but the philistine that I am wonders how the young people would feel about selfishly using that solar energy when it could be used for something more beneficial to society.
It will be interesting to see how this generation works it out.
Joe Phillips writes his “Dear me” columns for several small newspapers. He has many connections to Walker County, including his grandfather, former superintendent Waymond Morgan. He can be reached at joenphillips@hotmail.com.