I must have heard it spoken by grownups during the whole length of my childhood. Sometimes uttered in regret, sometimes in jest (as though they were witnessing a completely unique attribute by us) and lastly said in exasperation and surrender. In the varying degrees of separation, family members and closer relatives might articulate it in a more direct manner and passionately too, while strangers and acquaintances tend to be more civil and empathetic. Whether out loud or in whispers, spanning generations of countless elders which include our parents, these collective grownups ask the same thing. What’s wrong with the kids of today?
In an earlier recollection, a college teacher and friend of mine once confided, what was she to do with her niece who was apparently undergoing the confusing emotions tied with adolescence, all the while forgetting I too was only several years ahead of her ward.
“The jury is still not out on what’s behind the whys of what’s wrong with those younger than we.
One thing is sure though, as Mike & The Mechanics succinctly put it: every generation blames the one before….”
Though I must admit, being privy to such grownup chat may have been a bit flattering at the time, I was already aware that wasn’t the first time I heard it. Even during our college days, our mother sometimes conferred with us regarding our younger siblings. Much later, t’was as if there was a seamless transition, the employee years saw the same thing happening. Same question, different sets of people, involving different generations.
At the present time, nothing much has changed. It’s still being asked today, except the reality is, I have become one of those who are doing the asking. At this, I’m already wondering, does it even need to be answered? Is it just part of our nature to ask it, the way our parents and those before them have repeated the process, as though repeating this age-old query was a part of some odd tradition? Is there some secret context involved that I still have to discover?
I recall when my younger son was in high-school. The father of his class mate had asked me, how come my son and his peers so sensitive, unlike us and others from our generation? They’re so quick to sulk but fast at being critical of old ways, I remember him saying. Last night, a friend again posed a similar observation. And I thought, just another circle game, as Joni might have put it.
While already some may have placed an official tag on it as being a generational issue, I, like a few still maintain, the jury is still not out on what’s behind the whys of what’s wrong with those younger than we. One thing is sure though, as Mike & The Mechanics succinctly put it: every generation blames the one before….
