I’m 25 years old and I’m well on my way towards a master’s degree in public international law. I passionately advocate human rights and strongly believe that every human being deserves respect and honor and to be treated equally. I treat everyone I meet with respect, and expect them to do the same to me. And I definitely don’t think the age of great music is over yet. In fact, it will never be over.
As a young person, I’ve lived my entire life hearing about how things were better “back then,” and especially so in the 60’s with the great social revolution. The youth of the 60's didn't start the revolution, it had been a long time coming, but it is argued that they were more aware, more involved, more everything than today's youth. Today’s youth knows nothing and behaves horribly. Truth be told, I feel that the prejudice many members of the older generation harbors towards young people is not only painfully obvious, but often also lacking any solid ground at all. In my life the occasions when someone older than myself has behaved disrespectfully or condescending towards me far outnumber the occasions when I’ve behaved badly towards someone older than myself. I realize of course, that I’m generalizing – the very thing I’m telling you not to do – and not all people think this way, but even the most open-minded people can sometimes find themselves regarding the young generation as a mindless whole.
Frank wrote a terrific post recently that I urge you to read. His post wasn’t as much about the young generation being ignorant, as it was about the universal search for enlightenment that took place in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, only to slowly give way to more mundane goals. It was extremely well written and he put forth some great points. But while he didn’t write about the apparent inadequacy of young people today, it was brought up in the comment field. This is what inspired this post today, the way in which a young person will automatically be put in the category “young and ignorant, knows nothing of the real world.”
Sure, there are always a few rotten eggs among the youth, but there were just as many rotten eggs in the 60’s and 70’s. Yes, I’m talking about you, dear reader. I’m sure that many things that you did back then would easily land you in jail today. I doubt 20-year olds 40 years ago had a greater understanding of the world. They might have had easier access to drugs, but they weren’t any less lazy or ignorant than we are today. The only thing that has changed in 40 years is technology. While the youth of the 60’s were out in the streets, fighting to be heard, the youth of today use the venues they have at their disposal, e.g. the internet. And even in the 60’s and 70’s when young people rallied for peace, love and understanding, most young people just followed the leaders. They listened to anyone with decent rhetorical skills and took to the ideas presented to them – just like they do today. They didn’t have grand and original ideas worthy of anyone’s attention; they simply joined the crowd – which is exactly what today’s youth is accused of doing.
What made the social revolution of the 60’s so special? How was it different from the thousands of young people fighting for peace and understanding and a common goal in today’s world? It’s said that young people today don’t have the same deep understanding of life as the youth had in the 60’s. I say that this is simply not true. With the vast amount of information being forced upon us every day, we have no choice but to be aware of the world. I’ve grown up with video games and computers, but I’ve also ran around outside, played in the rain and built tree houses in the forest. I’ve read the great philosophers and studied religions and beliefs outside my own. The search for the great universal truth isn’t over, even though everyone knows the answer is 42. The search has just taken a new face, because today’s youth has different starting point than the generations before us.
And who made the world what it is today? It sure wasn’t the 20-year olds. I was never around in the 60’s, hell – my mom was hardly even around in the 60’s. I never heard the speeches, never lived the spiritual revolution, never searched for the great universal truth that would free us all while protesting in the streets and smoking marijuana. I never saw the world go from a spiritual awakening to falling asleep again, losing focus on the great goal of uniting all people in harmony. The very same people who preached love and peace eventually quit the drugs when it got too expensive, put their bra back on because who like their boobs hanging in the wind anyway, and little by little let go of the silly notion of peace and love. The young generation was born with their bras back on, they were taught that drugs are bad and that while peace and love are admirable goals, those damned foreigners just can’t agree to give it a try. The world was like this when I was born. This is the only world I’ve ever known. And I’m making the best of it, even though I’m a lazy, ignorant, no-good young person with lousy taste in music.
Of course I only know what I see. I’m describing what I see in Finland and Europe, I can’t write about what’s happening in other places, e.g. the USA. However, I would like to believe that what I’ve said today pertains to young people all over the world. So perhaps we should just consider that it might not be the young generation that is lazy and ignorant – perhaps it’s the older generation that once was proactive and involved that has now become passive and simply can’t see the young generation for what it truly is.
If you’ve made it this far, I’d like to congratulate you and ask you to please check out what my fellow bloggers have written for this week’s Theme Thursday.
Edit: I just realized that today it's been exactly one year since I started this blog. Time flies when you're having fun. And fruit flies like a banana. Just ask Nonamedufus.
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congrats on the year blogging...
ReplyDeletei hope that as i grow older (37 now) i can continue to look the younger generation in the eyes and see inspiration and wonder. i think we all have much to offer...perhaps some things were better back then...and perhaps some things will be better in the future...blaming and shaming any of the generations is pointless..and usually done by those that have more time on their hands than they know what to do with anyone...perhaps they should get out and do something themselves...happy tt!
Very well said, Ziva. And I agree. They say history has a habit of repeating itself. In that regard, things being said about today's youth were all said about the youth of the 60s and 70s. So that's not new, and those criticisms should be taken with a grain of salt. The other point I'd make is that not all 60s/70s youth were out protesting for peace or burning bras or attending Woodstock. These events caught the imagination of a generation but not everyone participated in them. Anyway I guess how I'd sum up is it seems the more things change the more they remain the same.
ReplyDeleteHappy Blogaversary. I'm honoured you would paraphrase my quote of Groucho Marx. Oh and good luck with that master's degree.
Brian: Thank you, it's been a wonderful year blogging. :) I'm sure that the young generation at any chosen time is full of inspiration and wonder, and it is only as we grow older that the inspiration fades to make room for other seemingly more important things; kids, marriage, career, money. Let's hope we're all able to keep on to the spirit of the youth even as we grow older.
ReplyDeleteDufus: "The more things change the more they remain the same" - your words are so very true. I guess it's easy to forget the things that were said back then, things that were very similar to what's said about today's youth, when the social revolution itself is so very easy to remember.
And thank you very much, I will need all the luck I can get with that master's degree. ;)
My 17 year old grandson, Cyrus, and I share everything. He is probably my best friend in the world and I adore the music he likes, I understand where he's coming from and he is one of the most enlightened and spiritual people I've ever known.
ReplyDeleteI just can't take a generation of people and say "oh it was better back then" because it just isn't true. I was in San Francisco (my home) in the 60's. I saw the "Peace and Love" brigade. I loved the music from the antiwar musical "Hair" and hated the Vietnam War.
I didn't have time to spend at war protests or smoking pot because I was a new mother at the time. In 1970, I was a new mother and getting a divorce which meant I went to work.
The Vietnam War was on the news constantly. Many of the boys I knew from my high school's graduating class were actually fighting in Vietnam. A lot of them didn't come back, or if they did physically, they never did mentally.
I come from a military family. I am not a war advocate, but I respect and appreciate first hand what these people do for us. I hate war, but believe there are reasons to fight. I wasn't a good hippie.
I worked in the oil industry. Many of my friends were in college part time, and protested things as extra curricular activities. Zive, I envied them a little because they were all people who had parents supplementing their income. Chevron USA supplemented mine in exchange for 40 hours a week.
I have no pretenses of being an intellectual. But I was there, and while it was very colorful for the first couple of years with all the pony tailed men and braless women and great music, it turned rather sour in time. The hippie children went to rehab and then went on to become bankers.
I think far from being ignorant, most of the young people I know are very intelligent, very passionate, and very caring. I'm glad the world is in there hands or will be soon. And I firmly believe they will do a better job with it than we have.
Ziva, this is a wonderful piece. My 17 year old grandson is one of the brightest, most caring, and most intelligent people I now.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the sixties were great in their own way. Of course sending our population of young men to Vietnam made it somewhat less great. Pot smoking hippies pontificating all night were fun to hang out with, but I never lived there and most of them had trust funds. I had a job. The music scene was fantastic. Just as it is now.
I think young people today are poised to do a lot better job of caring for Mother Earth than we ever did. This is a smarter, more savvy, and more sophisticated youth than I experienced. I'm glad we have people like this to take over.
Oh dear, Ziva. I had prepared a long comment but it was gobbled up by the verification process. I will return later in the day and see how I can respond to your excellent take on the theme.
ReplyDeleteAnd darling Ziva, you know I meant "I know", not "I now".
ReplyDeleteThe first time I posted, the system rejected it and ate it and then went ahead and published it. Delete one of them if you like, Honey.
And I also know the difference between "their" and "there" but you probably knew that too.
ReplyDeleteThroughout history, each generation has begrudged those who came before (and after) it.
ReplyDeleteNice piece.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had my current life experiences at age 25.
Articulately and passionately put, Ziva. And as you pointed out, my post was not aimed at a comparison of youth then and now, but of the world then and now. But while what you say may be true where you are, over here we're busy redefining the term "literacy" in order to hide the shocking inability of our students to read. There is a very real crisis in North America that our educators and politicians are valiantly trying both to hide, and to get a handle on. Of course, when you're hiding something it's pretty hard to find the handles.
ReplyDeleteI highly doubt there are any more "stupid" youth today than there were in my time -- you should have heard some of the New Age blather that a lot of my generation was babbling. But the youth of North America have become, to a large degree, exactly what you're read in the comments to my post: vacuous, unread, and irrelevant.
I won't condemn today's youth, or us older folk, for a lack of languages. North America is a huge land mass with one dominating language. I'm sure that if each of the states in the U.S. had its own language, the populace, overall, would be at least bilingual. (The incidence of bilingualism in Canada, I believe, is greater than the States simply because we have Quebec.)
But the state of mind our youth display in everyday life (both in and out of the classroom) is frighteningly shallow and entitled. And to a large degree this can be traced back to the spiritual striving of decades past. It was, in fact, my own generation that helped bring about the education system that has so thoroughly failed our youth. While the seeds for this farcical education system were there since the early 20th century, it was in the late '60s that we found, in our search for equality, a new impetus to encourage self-confidence uncoupled from actual accomplishments, -- or even fromactual effort. "You're all special," we told them, which may be true on one level, but as an excuse for being able to read and write it falls flat. "Just because some people can't read," I heard one educator say, "doesn't mean they're illiterate."
Today's youth never stood a chance.
Europe has always had a stronger philosophical and intellectual environment than North America. That it has survived in Finland is encouraging. Sometimes, because all we can see are the profoundly terrifying signs of intellectual decay in our own countries, we despair that it is happening all over the world.
And of course, no matter what the reality, the older generation will always consider the younger to be less intelligent than we are, at least to some point. That's just one of the perks to make up for watching our coffins creaking open as they draw ever more closer.
Awesome post Ziva. Nice way to commemorate your anniversary. The 50-70's were incredible, but so is the 21st century.
ReplyDeleteAnd who was raggin' on today's music??? Hello! This is the era of Celine Dion, man. Need I say more?
There seems to be nothing new under the heavens - ever!!!
ReplyDeleteThe older I get, the less I know.
PG
I was going to read this post, but it's too long and complicated. It probably sucks anyway because it was written by a young person. They don't know anything unless it has something to do with pop music or beer.
ReplyDelete"If asked for their opinion, most people would say that young people are ignorant, lazy and impassionate. They have no respect for their elders, they have no respect for authority and they definitely have no understanding of good music. They are not spiritual, and if they are they’re simply adhering to the State religion without critical thought. They have no mind of their own, quote everyone but themselves and have no true understanding of the concept of original and critical thought."
ReplyDeleteOMG! I decided to read the first paragraph, and it's dead on! Thank you for articulating my inner thoughts perfectly!
Oh. Wait. I didn't have anything better to do so I read the rest of it.
ReplyDeleteI'll be back in a minute with a few thoughts. They might not be coherent, but they'll be thoughts.
I for one don't agree that youth = ignorance, or whatever other negative attributes are foisted on the young. Just negative stereotyping, and not fair, but it happens with other targeted groups as well. Good choice of a topic
ReplyDeletePart 1:
ReplyDeleteI'm back! Sorry for the wait. Hope you weren't holding your breath.
Okay, I'm done teasing you now, Ziva. I tease you because I like you. In fact, I like you for several reasons, and one of them is that you're an intelligent, thoughtful person. You're thoughtful now, at 25, and you'll be thoughtful when you're 50. God built you that way, my darkling Finn, and that's a pity because it won't make your life any easier.
It's interesting that Frank's column elicited such strong responses from both of us. In your case, it led to an articulate defense of today's youth, many of whom are bright and engaged, as you say. In my case, it left me feeling a little sad, because I remember the days when my friends and I were more interested in spiritual and philosophical pursuits than in buying new cars or watching television.
It's not that I'm opposed to those things, mind you. It's just that I miss the passion I had then and I don't see it much in my generation or the vast majority of today's youth, or even myself, to be honest. I like the creature comforts modern civilization affords us, and I'm not sure I'd want to give them up. Or even that I should.
Are today's young adults different from or worse off than the young people of the 60s and 70s? I don't know. Sometimes older people look down on younger people because we forget that we didn't get older and (theoretically) wiser overnight, it was a process. We were once much like you, working fast and furiously to acquire wisdom and maturity, usually in fits and starts that probably seemed laughable to the generation that proceeded us.
I don't like it when children of the 60s criticize today's youth, though. Society changed a lot during that period, but not necessarily for the better, and, as you point out, the seeds of many of the problems we're forced to deal with now--global warming, excessive consumption of our resources, drugs (legal and illegal)--were planted by that generation, which arguably was and is the most self-centered generation that ever lived.
Part 2:
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, I might not be the best critic of those times. I was too young to experience the 60s, and I was only a teenager in the 70s. I grew up in the 80s, which feel almost bland and forgettable compared to the 60s or the 2000s.
But sometimes I think young people were better off in the 60s and 70s than they are now, because so many of them had a lot of passion and desperately wanted to change the world for the better. Everything from their music and literature to their clothing and their philosophical outlook was revolutionary.
Conversely, many of today's young people seem shallower and less passionate now than they did then--more interested in material things and keeping themselves happy, less interested in education and in sacrificing for others. Today's music and literature can be good, but it's hardly revolutionary, and what passes for revolutionary--Lady Gaga or Kanye West, for instance--frequently seems more like good marketing designed to move another product for profit and personal gain than something intended to leave the world better off.
But then I remember that it was the kids of 1967 made "Incense and Peppermints" by the Strawberry Alarm Clock a number one hit. And any generation that would inflict that schlock on the world, can't be all that. (hear it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhYLz63csS0&a=GxdCwVVULXfXjVzz_SFGqqDwba4JAahQ&playnext=1 )
Anyway, as much as I might care about all that, and however dejected I might feel about the current state of our society, all of it pales in comparison to the importance of my relationships--the deep ones like I have with my wife and close friends, and the more casual ones but also significant ones like I believe we have. I admire you a lot, Ziva. You're smart and witty, you write very well--in two languages, no less!--and I know that if there were more people like you in the world, more people advocating for human rights and arguing that all human beings deserve our fundamental respect and honor and care, I probably wouldn't be so worried about the future.
And now I'll stop, because this is the single longest comment (771 words) I've ever left on anybody's blog, and, as you know, I've left some long-ass comments. I must love the sound of my own voice. Or the sight of my own words. Whatever. I'm tired of you youngsters criticizing me for caring! You don't know me, man!
Hah! My comment was so long I had to break it in two for your blog to accept it.
ReplyDeleteYou make very good points. As a Sixties person who was moderately involved in Women's Lib and protesting the War, we did want to change the world. Wish I could say I was "all over it" but I was going to school, then college, then work. However, I will tell you there was a paradigm shift if only for a while. The biggest disappointment about the Boomer generation is we fell into the trap of acquisitiveness, conspicuous consumption, call it what you will. We are paying for that now and so are you.
ReplyDeleteGood post. Happy anniversary.
Linda: Stupid blogger that keeps eating the comments. It warms my heart to hear about your faith in today’s youth. And I wish I had your wisdom, you’ve led such an amazing life and seen so much. And you’re still so young! I truly hope that my generation and the generations to come will live up to your expectations, I know I’ll definitely give it my best shot.
ReplyDeleteJulie: I’m sorry that your comment was lost! You’re very welcome back later, happy theme thursday!
Kris: So true, I guess it’s a human trait to never be fully content with what we have.
Reffie: But think of all the amazing experiences and silly mistakes you would have missed out on later in life. ;)
Frank: If what you’re saying is true, which I don’t doubt for a second, I’m truly sorry, even horrified, to hear about the state of the youth in North America. To be in a position where a new definition of the term "literacy" is needed is nothing short of sad. And I’m fairly certain that no matter how you look at it, if you can’t read, you’re illiterate. Yes, you’re special. Yes, you’re unique. But so is every other person in the entire world. I don’t know what happened to make the youth of North America lose their focus so completely, but I still like to believe that what you’ve seen is the worst of it, and that there still are good people among the young generation. People that will go through the trouble of reading, learning, and thinking, to learn how to form their own opinion and be a functional part of society.
ReplyDeleteI think the view on languages is very different in North America and in Europe, but I won’t go into that right now. (I might write a post about it at some later point, though.)
Looking at things from our own perspective is what we all do; we see the state of affairs in our own region and often mistake it for that state of the world. We could all probably use a good lesson in how to look beyond our own borders. There are countries in Asia and Africa where the social revolution has yet to happen. China, home of 1/5 of the world’s population, has never seen a democratic election and I obviously can’t say anything about the state of the youth there.
And of course the older generation has earned the right to feel superior; it’s only a matter of time before we’ll be changing your diaper, after all.
Nicky: Glad you liked the piece, even though it wasn’t my usual kind of blog post. The 21th century truly is awesome, isn’t it? Who gives a rat’s ass about all that sappy love and peace music when you can listen to Celine Dion??
ReplyDeletePrayer Girl: Don’t worry, it’s perfectly normal; I’m sure it’s just the Alzheimer setting in.
gospelwriter: You’re very right – negative stereotyping is sadly very common, and is by no means a new phenomenon. We can only hope that the world eventually will learn to look beyond prejudice.
California Girl: Thank you! Perhaps a permanent paradigm shift was too much to ask for at the time. But who knows, maybe some day soon… We can’t go on like this forever, you’d think.
MikeWJ: Silly Mike, I didn’t expect you to actually read the entire post. You know you’re not supposed to be using your brain, you’ll just hurt yourself. But since you read and obviously put your brain through the trauma of writing up an epic comment, I’ll let it slide today.
ReplyDeleteI’m honored that you would think of 771 words worth of comments to this one little piece of writing. I’d rather think and have it make my life a little more difficult than having to go through life with a smile on my face and no thoughts in my head.
I don’t think modern luxuries and a philosophical mind are mutually exclusive. Why would we have to give up modern things like new cars, and televisions in order to be able to have spiritual and philosophical pursuits? Certainly we should be able to turn the flat screen TV off long enough to have an existential discussion with ourselves, or if we’re really lucky, another person who also knows where the TV power button is.
Society changes constantly and it’s useless to compare different generations of young people who’ve grown up in so different surroundings. Or rather, the actions of different generations should be compared, different times elicit different reactions and actions among the people, both young and old. Every generation, every era, is revolutionary in its own way. The 60’s stood out because of the philosophical outlook, but perhaps this decade will go to the history as the decade when young people fought for freedom of speech, privacy and freedom of assembly. The 60’s are glorified because the message back then seemed so important at the time. The Vietnam War captured everyone’s attention, and while the USA is still involved in wars, they’re presented are peacekeeping efforts, in sharp contrast to the Cold War. Therefore the youth, and people in general, has simply turned their attention to things that seem important today. They’re not any less inspired, they’re just less loud.
But of course I agree with you, personal relationships are far more important to me than the state of the society, and I’m happy to have my family and wonderful friends, such as yourself. Your writing and your encouragement makes me want to write, and that’s a wonderful thing. So thank you, Mike.
Btw, I listened to the song and now I feel like someone fed me some bad mushrooms and put me in the washing machine on the spin cycle. Thanks.
Btw again, I can actually write this well in three languages, not two. I don’t want to be appear conceited or anything, but yeah, it’s three.
When I first heard Strawberry Alarm Clock's "Incense and Peppermints" I thought they were saying "Incest and Peppermints." Wasn't quite sure what to make of that.
ReplyDeleteMy dear Ziva, first of all, I apologize if I offended you with my comment on Frank's blog. That was never my intention.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I was only 7 years old at the end of the 60's. And my teen years were more in the late 70's. However, it does seem to me that the youth of today, (those that I am familiar with) are more into feathering their own nest and less concerned in the overall conditions that benefit the many. While they are by no means ignorant, they simply seem to think less deeply and are less into philosophy. (Maybe the bloody mess that was the Viet Nam war had a lot to do with this)
You sound like a very well rounded young woman and I admire you greatly. Once again, I ask your forgiveness for offending you.
You're fluent in three fucking languages? Well, fuck me! I can barely speak and write in one.
ReplyDeleteSee, that's the real problem with kids today. They're over-educated and think they know it all just because they know 98 percent of it. I long for the old days, when people spoke the language they were raised with, and milked cows or grew pot for a living instead of getting degrees in international law.
Sorry about the song, but I thought it was instructive. For all this talk about great the music of the 60s was compared to now, I guarantee you that Lady Gaga's never sung anything worse than that.
Frank: Well, if you're going to commit incest, you might want a peppermint. You know, to freshen your breath before you kiss your first cousin.
ReplyDeleteDammit! I just realized that I missed two very good jokes:
ReplyDelete1) Id rather go through life with a smile on my face and no thoughts in my head than be forced to think about things all the time.
2) I said you write well in two languages and I meant what I said even though you speak three. :-)
Sorry I didn't those opportunities earlier. I'm feeling a little out of sorts today.
Being a "child of the 60s" I would not want to be a "child of the 10s".
ReplyDeleteIf only I could have been half this intelligent at 25..sheesh 35 even!!!!
ReplyDeleteHappy anniversary Ziva!!!!
There is something to be said for age and wisdom. I often times wish I had when I was younger the "don't sweat it" mentality I have now. Raising my kids in the early years would have been far more peaceful lol.
ReplyDeleteBut there is something to be said for the bravery of youth. We all need to hold on to that. Mines buried in here somewheres lol. Great writing :)
Strawberry Alarm Clock? Yeah my generation is responsible for that, Mike. We also are responsible for the Electric Prunes ("I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night") which right about now, in my advancing years, are something I intend to look into.
ReplyDeleteFrank and MikeWJ: If you ask me, there are far too few songs written about peppermints and first cousins. We should write one. I’ll go get the tin whistle and you two go get whatever instrument you’re most comfortable playing.
ReplyDeleteLeeuna: Don’t worry, Leeuna, there is nothing to forgive. I didn’t take it personally. I know you didn’t mean to say that every single young person is shallow, and that you spoke only based on your own experiences. I simply felt that the comments echoed something I’ve noticed in real life as well, a certain tendency to dismiss the youth as not quite worthy, and that made me want to do this little exercise in looking at things from young people’s perspective. It’s more the general trend of thinking that I’m opposing, not the comments themselves.
MikeWJ: In my defence, I was going to grow pot to liven up this blog, and I would have probably forgotten at least one or two languages in the process, but the cops didn’t think it was a good idea. I’ve never milked a cow, though… Cows are the big, lazy ones, right? That look all friendly and docile and then attack when you have your back turned. I hate cows.
Oh, and don’t worry about those jokes you missed, they weren’t that good anyway.
Gladys: Well, “child of the 60’s” or “child of the 10’s” is just a matter of wording, isn’t it? ;) We all prefer our very own decade, and I wouldn’t want to be a child of the 60’s either.
Mrsblogalot: Thank you! Silly you, I’m sure you were this intelligent at 25, even more so at 35, and now you’re right up there with Einstein.
Bobbie: Here's to holding on to the bravery of youth. :) (I think I'm going to try to adopt that "don't sweat it" mentality when the time comes for me to have kids. Things just seem to run more smoothly if you don't sweat it.)
nonamedufus: You intend to look into electric prunes? That sounds painful. And extremely effective.
Ziva, is boinking your first cousin incest or is it just the first time you boink your first cousin that it's incest? Damn! Now you tell me! I thought that was fine since they always say "kissing cousins", don't they? I just assumed cousins were fair game.
ReplyDeleteZiva... I came of age in the 60s and you don't want to know what the "older generation" was saying about us. But I will say that the older generation handed us a pretty nice world, and I'm sad to say that we haven't done the say for you. I apologize. And pretty much every generation thinks their music was the best. So don't take it too personally. It's just what people do. I know you say you'll be different when you get older, and I hope you're right -- but don't be too surprised if you're not. This was a fine, very well-written post. Happy Anniversary and here's to many more. - Jayne
ReplyDeleteLinda: I'm not much of an expert on incest, I'm happy to tell you, but if I were you I'd stay far away from anyone you wouldn't want to mix chromosomes with.
ReplyDeleteJayne: Thank you, I'm glad you stopped by. It's always interesting to hear how the "older generation" reacts to a piece like this. (And obivously I don't mean older as in one-leg-in-the-grave old, but simply older in the sense that they experienced the era we're talking about whereas I didn't.) I don't take the music thing personally at all, in fact I think that I stated in a comment above that we all prefer our own decade with everything it had to offer, it's only human. That said, I do prefer music from earlier decades in many cases. Sadly, the music of the 2000's hasn't impressed me all that much, at least not yet.
However, I never said that I'll be different when I get older, on the contrary, in a comment on Frank's blog where I discussed the same thing I said that in a few years I probably won’t agree with what I write today, and I will probably think the same thing about the youth that the older generation thinks of me today. But I do hope that I'll be able to keep an open mind. And in the end that's all we really can do, isn't it? Try to keep an open mind and remember what it was like to be young and passionate.
I think Jerry Lee Lewis is the expert on incest and peppermints. I believe that's why he was often quoted as saying "goodness, gracious great balls of fire!" Well, it was his own fault. I'm sure Frank and Mike are with me on this.
ReplyDeleteI totally support you, NoName. Jerry Lee set the gold standard for incest in the music business.
ReplyDeleteAs for electric prunes, there are times when I think they could be very useful indeed. Let me know if you find a supplier.
Also, I like how Ziva says she didn't "mean older as in one-leg-in-the-grave old" when she referred to older people in her post. Is that a back-door way of saying she means we all have both legs in the grave and we're just waiting for the undertaker to shovel some dirt on us?
I could come up with Incest and Peppermint lyrics--"Incest and peppermints, the cousins of mine..."--but, really, can you beat lyrics like this:
ReplyDeleteGood sense, innocence, cripplin' and kind.
Dead kings, many things I can't define.
Oh Cajun spice, sweats and blushers your mind.
Incense and peppermints, the color of thyme.
Who cares what games we choose?
Little to win, but nothing to lose.
Incense and peppermints, meaningless nouns.
Turn on, tune in, turn your eyes around.
Look at yourself, look at yourself,
Yeah, yeah.
Look at yourself, look at yourself,
Yeah, yeah,
Yeah, yeah.
Tune-a by the cockeyed world in two.
Throw your pride to one side, It's the least you can do.
Beatniks and politics, nothing is new.
A yardstick for lunatics, one point of view.
Who cares what games we choose?
Little to win, but nothing to lose.
Good sense, innocence, crippled and kind.
Dead kings and many things I can't define.
Oh Cajun spice, sweats and blushers your mind.
Incense and peppermints, the color of thyme.
Who cares what games we choose?
Little to win, but nothing to lose.
Incense, peppermints, incense, peppermints.
Sha-la-la, sha-la-la....
Thanks for stopping by my blog, I like to keep its short..LOL>
ReplyDeletenonamedufus: Technically Jerry Lee Lewis could have had any random unspecified problem with peppermints and intercourse. It could have been anyone holding the peppermints, it didn't have to be a first cousin.
ReplyDeleteMikeWJ: What was that? I can't hear you from down there in the grave.
nancy: You're very welcome, and thank you for stopping by and reading and commenting. :)
Excellent post, Ziva. I'm one of those 40-somethings that 'gets it'. Mostly. Although I do shake my fist at 'kids today' on occasion ;)
ReplyDeleteI don't think today's youth is ignorant. In fact, because of the internet, much of today's youth is way less ignorant than we ever were. When I look at my niece and nephews, I'm astounded by what they know so early on, and with accuracy.
We might also say that today's elders are ignorant, which they are, if they're spending their time dismissing today's youth for not being as good as they were 'back in the day'....
Well, Ziva, you've got yourself one though provoking post here! I think you said it above that we shouldn't generalize. That said, no one can know everything and all angles. I think what's important is for everyone to keep an open mind.
mike: Very wise words, Mike, I agree completely. I'm sure everyone likes to think they're omniscient, but in reality very few of us are. In fact, I think I might be the only one. ;)
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Ziva. I have a twenty-one year old son who is awesome. I don't believe that he or his peers are lazy. They may be more distracted because of the Internet but they certainly aren't lazy. If anything, I think they suffer from information overload, which can be paralyzing at times.
ReplyDeleteOur future is in your hands and the hands of your peers. I'm more optimistic about the future because of your generation.
I think my generation was lazy because many of us had it easy as kids. Now as adults, we see that reality is a cruel parent, tightening our budgets because we grew up in an age of excess. Now everyone's bank account is on a diet.
Lauren: Of course your son is awesome, he's yours after all. ;) I think having children who are young today gives people a certain perspective on what today's youth is all about. I'm glad you have faith in us. ;)
ReplyDelete