IF ONE were to count how many times I must have heard any comment that started with, “Oh, the young people today…” I would have to start from two generations above me, from that of my grandparents and our parents. That’s where I first heard such unforgettable opening lines.
While growing up, we (the lower and younger generation back then) were the consistent recipient of either their praise or criticism, with the latter firmly resigned to the top tier.
Ironically, we also learned in school that the country’s national hero, JPR, had once referred to us and generally the youth as the “hope of the fatherland.” So, from the ground, confusing as that was, we knew different.
As such, any deviation from what was the acceptable norm of the time almost always got us zoned into hearing from the grownups, any critique with the opening line, “the young people of today.”
This is then followed by whatever trivial transgression we may have done during any particular time.
Fast forward a few more years and without realizing it at first, we, the young generation that once was, whom our elders once regularly called out, find ourselves now as not only mimicking them but also mouthing their same belief, with the opening line, “The young people of today.” In short, in what has appeared to be a short while, we find ourselves singing their song.
I have often laughed at this with friends, jokingly referring to the phenomena as either hereditary, societal or contagious.
But looking back, I’m reminded of a particular child phase my partner once told me about (I’ve likewise seen this in other children.)
There had been a time when her supervisor’s apo would always walk around in her lola’s high heels, and pretend to get ready to go to the office, like her.
I’m then wondering, is mimicry imbedded in our DNA or is it from what we see in society? I don’t know.
But why is it that whenever I find myself exasperatingly uttering any comment which starts with “the young people of today…” in my head, it’s as though I’m also imitating the tone at how my grandma says the same thing to me?
If all this is not enough, this practice, phenomena, syndrome, or whatever one calls it, is such a human thing, I suspect other species lack it clearly.
However, for the moment, I’ll go with this: the undertones of such merely point at our natural tendency to pat ourselves in the back as if to say, after all, we were better.
Agree or disagree, from which age or generation multiverse are you calling from?
