Years don’t necessarily make sages but only older men

DOES a certain hairstyle, dress, manner, or a TV programme that your children love, annoy you? If so, welcome to the generation gap.

We are all products of our formative years and our habits reflect this. A generation gap ensues when we transfer the values of one age to another set of circumstances. While gaps in thinking can be good for fresh perspectives, often the thinking of the elderly is backed by logic while that of the young ones is dictated by what they see around them or what is trendy, however silly this may appear to be.

We are all products of our formative years and our habits reflect this. A generation gap ensues when we transfer the values of one age to another set of circumstances. While gaps in thinking can be good for fresh perspectives, often the thinking of the elderly is backed by logic while that of the young ones is dictated by what they see around them or what is trendy, however silly this may appear to be.

Generally, age views events in the light of experience and is not ready to adapt to the new ideas very easily. The youth look forward with a sense of adventure; they do not want the fetters of history. If age requires reason to resolve, youth want only a pretext to go ahead unrestrained.

Youths claim that they are not a lost generation but like their peers they also wonder about the future. They prefer to rather concentrate on the present and while they are blamed for often losing their way, they point out that there are many among them having fun, being happy, responsible, successful and dedicated who will eventually end up as being respected members of society. They claim that the elderly usually lack faith in youths and therefore unduly condemn them. 

Said one postgraduate student, “We may sometimes lack knowledge but we are certainly not devoid of intelligence. We can see through shams with sharp eyes. Age often objects too much, consults too long, and adventures too little. The vices of age have the stiffness of it too. We must not forget that years do not make sages; they make only old men. Age is often a tyrant, which forbids the pleasures of youth."

The youth certainly have to be given their own freedom as long as they are ambitious to prosper positively and as long as their ideals do not drag them away into immoral ways. When a child harbours ambition, he or she will be keen to achieve academically while staying away from immoral doings will keep him or her more occupied in constructive habits, sports or hobbies. Undue pressure by parents to impose their way of thinking on their children can backfire because ultimately everything the elders say will be deemed as being old-fashioned. There has to be some rationale or limit of interference in how children are guided in their young years. The following anecdote offers the savour of the generation gap:

Teacher: "When I was of your age I could answer any question in mathematics."

Student: Yes, Sir, but you had a different teacher."