Each successive generation must surely feel they have contributed something monumental to the American story. The young adults in the 1940s are considered the "greatest generation" for the extraordinary combined effort they put forth to fight and end World War II. The "beat generation" broke molds of conformity, and set up the alley oop for the hippies to follow, shattering the norms their big brothers and sisters cracked. The flower children and the disco kids contributed by giving us the sexual revolution of the 70s. I'm not sure to what I should credit my own generation, because while we were the youth buying the Live Aid tickets and albums, we were also the ones not getting that we were supposed to think Gordon Gekko was villanous when he oozed the phrase "Greed is good." Millenials get an outsized load of crap dumped on them unfairly as entitled, which I don't buy, because it was their parents giving them those loathed participation trophies they didn't ask for. They are some of the hardest working young people I've ever witnessed, just because we made the things that are supposed to be necessities (like education and housing) unattainably expensive by the time they came along. I don't think I know anyone under 35 who hasn't had to work two jobs or surrender their options to the military to make ends meet without drowning in debt for at least a few years of their early adulthood.
I'm not sure where to draw the line for Gen Z. Are they the kids who are in high school now, or only their big brothers and sisters? Wherever that demarcation falls, I have to say, I am impressed as hell with the kids born since 1999. Once upon a time I might have looked disparagingly on the children of the hippies, thinking that their lack of boundaries was somehow negative for the development of those kids into adults. Now that the hippies' grandchildren are making noise, I'm reevaluating my skepticism. The current crop of kids have obliterated old biases, and challenged the norms in a way that makes me feel like a troglodyte (and I consider myself rather forward thinking). They are inclusive and caring in such a natural, uncomplicated way that progressive generations before could only have dreamed about.
But there is also an underlying frisson of stress that is as pervasive as it is baffling to me. I don't know what we have done to create all the stress these kids are under. I don't know whether it is environmental, chemical, structural, or what. I am not going to take the lazy way out and go on about video games or other tech influences. I think more than anything, that easy access to the rest of the world has given them less sense of isolation, not made them weird loners. But something is making people snap, and the kids are the ones who are living in fear that the next violent episode raining bullets down on a group of kids is going to be in their own schools. They are sick of being in fear for their lives, just by trying to grow up with their own cohorts, in their own schools. How dare administrators try to silence the kids who spoke up today, who marched out of their classrooms across the country, writing "Don't shoot" on their palms and carrying signs saying "Am I next?" These children are far more mature and intelligent and passionate than older people with a stake in the status quo are giving them credit for. They know what is happening to themselves, and they have a right to speak up and push back. I was so proud of them for standing up for themselves. The walkouts today represent more than just a reaction to the most recent spate of gun violence. They represent the future, and the future is mad as hell and sick of your crap, if you are part of the problem. They have stood up with a unified voice and sworn to vote. God help the old guard when they actually do it.
(I have no pictures of walkouts or teenagers. I did take a picture of a section of the mountains that was on fire today, and that's the best representation of what I've got for today's essay.)
No comments:
Post a Comment