The older generation is always disappointed in the next generation of young people because they are different in some critical ways than they “should” be.  Lazy, entitled, rock-n-roll crazed, selfish, dumb, unmotivated, etc., etc., etc.

Reconsidering

It’s so easy to look at younger people and think they aren’t as ambitious as they should be.  Or more spoiled than we were.  Or feel like they’re more entitled.  It’s easy to criticize parents of young people that they molly-coddle their brats.  How giving constant praise and reward for nothing…that we’ve raised a population of entitled, self-centered young adults who are in for huge disappointments when they enter “the real world.”

Yes…like an English teacher in High School said, “Critiquing anything is easy.”

But when I look at the next generation of younger folks that I know, I have to say, my experience is not any of the standard complaints.  Mostly, I see a group of smart, responsible, self-assured, knowledgeable, caring young adults.  Mostly I’m amazed at how much they seem to understand about themselves and the world and how insightful they can be.

The latest group of students from Parkland is a perfect example of young people who have proven themselves extremely capable of standing up for themselves and also culling the support of the older generation to help them make the country a better place.  I’m wondering if these kids got trophies “just for playing” and if they were constantly lavished with praise and attention.  Because if they were, it clearly seems to have worked for them.

In fact, I have a many more critiques of the people in my generation these days.

Who would have believed there were so many who were so hateful (enough to elect a racist for a president).  And worse yet, despite all evidence, they still support the man despite all he’s done to ruin this country.  Ignorant…obstinate…uneducated…hateful…hypocritical…delusional.  Who can imagine that enough of my generation care so little about the environment that they don’t insist that our country do anything at all about the climate crisis…in fact, they allow elected officials to work in direct opposition to efforts trying to fix it.  And it’s truly unthinkable to me, that greedy organizations are allowed to dictate the laws we have about sane gun control and taxation that continues to make them richer and keep us poorer.  Yes, my generation has a lot to answer for…what did our parents do wrong?

Perhaps my generation is the “lost generation” that we should just give up on after all and let the next generation try to fix our mess.

Current Knitting

The weekend seemed to include a lot of knitting time and yet I’ve still only been able to add a couple of inches to the Briar Rose Pullover.

Given the weather out (cold, windy thunderstorms), I had to take flash photos of the project, but you can see I’m almost up to the armhole shaping.