The yoof of today

When I look at my kids and their mates, I feel a number of emotions.

Amazement

This is from seeing my offspring’s cool achievements - despite their constraint of me supplying half their genetic material! Postman theories have been advanced by more than one, but my lovely wife assures me this is not the case. Phew!

This amazement extends to their friends. What many of them have achieved in their short time on this planet is a constant source of awe.

Surprise

Surprised that they’re so much more self-aware than my generation was at the same age. I thought it was a maturity thing and we would all follow the same trajectory. I’m very happy I’m wrong. All I cared about was what we were doing on Friday night, and being able to afford to fuel Flash, my glorious Mk3 Cortina.

On a side note, Flash was an awesome vehicle. Bright yellow, Alpine stereo, spotlights, wide tires, and a Coby exhaust. But the days of customising your car seem to have gone for most. Are we getting more comfortable with homogeneity? Or do people not care about cars because they are planet-warming, money pits? The latter I suspect - which leads to my next point.

Respect

Respect for their care of the world around them. They give a shit about the planet. I never gave it a thought at the same age. I could claim it wasn’t so high in the public consciousness in my younger days. That may be true, but the information was there if I cared to look for it. But I didn’t.

Respect for their acceptance of the differences in people. Be it race, sexual persuasion, political views, or education. They don’t care what school you went to. They don’t care who you vote for. And they see no logic in being blindly affiliated to a party for life. I love the fact that whoever I vote for does not remotely feature in their consideration.

Respect for their willingness to talk about mental health, their support of their friends in this space, and their understanding of it being part of the human condition and not a weakness (as it has been seen by my generation and ones that preceded it).

Respect for the weight they place on the purpose and values of an employer. The size of the paycheck or the status of a role is not their primary consideration. It’s still important, but their willingness to tolerate long meaningless hours in order to conform to other people’s definition of success is encouragingly low. Yay!

Embarrassment

Embarrassment from how in comparison I spent so many years ignorant of all the things mentioned above. It’s all pretty effing obvious when I look back. But hindsight is pretty useless in this case - because I have yet to crack time traveling.

Gratitude

I’m thankful that this generation is less hedonistic and far more aware of the world around them. Generations that have preceded them have presided over some large train smashes. Climate. Environment. Human rights. Inequality. This list could go on.

So I’m hopeful the tide on all these things will turn as the old guard dies off and is replaced by the yoof of today, and we see them voting with their behaviour - which forces change on those pale, stale, males who have not wielded their authority wisely. And we see a resetting of the social norms which have caused these derailments.

Jealousy

Jealous that their open perspectives and self-awareness arrived far earlier in their lives than they did in mine. Mind you, I’m a desperately slow maturer, so this quite possibly would’ve still been the case had I been born a generation later!

Happiness

I like hanging out with the yoof of today. They’re cool.