I read that the generations younger than mine have very different views about many things. Millennials respond differently than the WW2 generation, the Hippie generation, the Gen-Xers. Every generation frames life differently. Every generation responds to different messages. This is what I hear.
The people who think this way are mostly younger. Some older people know this to be false from their experience. Many older people believe the young are corrupted and decadent, simply wrong. We are really all the same. Differences are incidental and ephemeral. Generations can hear each other. It is possible. All mature people can understand motion pictures.
All children everywhere experience the world as though for the first time. Parents rarely like their children's music. Children rebel and leave home. The world is forever going to hell in hand baskets.
Every generation's common experiences are superficially different. People are born
into poverty and others into riches. Some generations grow up and
fight wars. Others are bored, some simply wiped out. Despite this, my experience is
that people are and have always been the same. There are no races.
There are no giants. There have never been elves. There are no born
criminals or saints. People are all "human."
Every life
recapitulates every other life in so many ways. There is nothing new
under the sun, as the prophet wrote. Every emotion you will ever feel
has been experienced by others both contemporary and historic. There are
no new answers or perversions. Not everyone learns this basic fact. Thucydides drove the stake home for me fairly late in life.
Religion always comes back into fashion. The most powerful priests are always old. The young always doubt.
No comments:
Post a Comment