Kids today, wearing skinny jeans, short haircuts, obsessed with an I-Phone and the noise they call music. Other than the I-Phone, it sounds like my father complaining about my generation 40 years ago. At that time my grandmother told me that my father sounded like his father 30 years earlier. She chided him, that when he was a kid she would give him a 25-cents to go get a proper gentleman's haircut, he would get a 10-cent buzz-cut (that she hated) and use the other 15-cents to go to the movies. I fought over letting my hair grow for six months at a time when I was a teenager - back when I had lots of hair. It was down to my shoulders when I finished high school. I was obsessed with stereos, I wore "low-rise" jeans and was seldom seen without a camera or two.
I am actually very comforted by my reaction to young people. I remind myself that each generation has fashions and interests that are considered weird by older generations. The action of younger generations and my reaction to it is normal. I try not to criticize or complain about the differences, they are part of what sets the generations apart, part of the normal generation gap. I don't try to look like a 20 year old, I have sweaters older than that.
I try to learn from younger people, what are they doing that can make my life easier or more productive.
This morning my youngest brother grumbled he could not sleep as the 'kids' in the next hotel room were making too much noise. Turnabout !
ReplyDeleteI chuckle when I read this.
ReplyDeleteThe surprise for me was when a woman came into my real estate office asking for area information. She was about 5 years my junior. She asked for someone else to help her because she couldn't relate to a "hipster", pointed at me, "with the beard and cuffed jeans." Unfortunately for her there was no one else in my office at that moment so she left to find different office. She missed my 24 years of neighborhood knowledge. I've been wearing a beard and cuffed jeans since high school age about 1980. I wasn't even aware a man my age could be a hipster.
I just don't get the cell phone obsession. the damn thing is glued to the hand, and it seems (to me) that my two 20-something co-workers spend more time on IT than actual WORK.
ReplyDelete