I love reading other peoples' perspectives of what they think it's like to grow old. I don't really know what old is, or aging. I don't really pay attention to it, to be quite honest. Time is fleeting, they say, and they actually say it for good reason. My hair has turned from the salt and pepper grey it used to be, to white...ish. I'm only 64. Today, I had to go in and hand in my retirement papers. I'm out in January. Done. And yet, when I started 45 years ago--in the same place--I never thought I'd work there for that long. I guess you could say I've become complacent to aging. I was told age is 23 years older than you are right now. That puts me at 87. According to my "85 & out" philosophy of life, I'd already be dead. I think the problem people have with aging is that it frightens them. People are afraid to die, afraid to be old, or neglected; afraid of suffering through the ailments they think comes with aging. And, well, there may be some truth to that. But I look at this stage of my life as I enter it, as a chance to do for myself those things I couldn't do when I was helping to raise my family. This time, it's for me. I look at the younger generations and say, Thank God I don't have to go through that shit again.
Thank you for some great thoughts going into the holiday.
I think humanity goes through cycles driven by technological innovation. What did the printing press do to the ruling religious in Europe? The protests of the 60s came on the back of new streams of information (war footage in Vietnam) and the breakdown of trust in the government and governing systems in the country.
The internet has allowed floods of voices to claim authority and question the powerful. Naturally young people gravitate towards questioning the “old guard.” On the positive end of that you see things like the Harvey Weinsteins of the world going to prison after years of abuse. On the negative end we have a rise in intolerance from, in my mind, every “group” of people. I don’t think it will win out in the end.
The total banning of ideas bothers me more than anything. Fortunately I see a lot of backlash to those bans, and rightfully so. I think the pendulum will swing regarding the people of the past as well. We owe them for the world we’ve been given, the good and the bad. And there’s so much good.
I'm a Millennial and this youth worship drives me bonkers. Especially since it's mainly people my age doing it. I personally see it as an unhealthy way to deal with aging. Rather than embracing or even accepting the fact that we're no longer in our 20s, some Millennials opt to pander to the most obnoxious, radical Zoomers instead.
It's not great for young people either. That's way too much pressure to put on people who are just starting to figure out who they are.
Great post and comments. As a member of the "older generation" I agree with you all. Here's an email I received a while back and think it might be relevant to this post:
A self-important college freshman walking along the beach took it upon himself to explain to a senior citizen resting on the steps why is was impossible for the older generation to understand his generation. " You grew up in a different world, actually an almost primitive one" the student said loud enough for others to hear. " The young people of today grew up with television, jet planes, space travel, man walking on the moon. We have nuclear energy, ships and cell phones, computers with light speed...and many more."
After a brief silence, the senior citizen responded as follows.
"You're right son. We didn't have those things when we were young...so we invented them. Now, you arrogant little shit what are you doing for the next generation?"
Well said. I've been working on something similar. I don't know if this happened in the USA, but in the UK some time ago a lot of young people were complaining that we 'boomers' had all of life's luxuries and that it wasn't fair, and that we should get to the back of the line for Covid vaccinations because we had it all. My internal reaction, very politically incorrect, was that maybe they should get off their posterior and deal with it instead of whingeing. I hate the fact that as I get older I'm starting to sound more and more like my parents' generation, but I can't help recalling living through an inflation rate of 28% (at one point) and holding down 7 jobs to keep a roof over my head. To quote Elvis Presley: Nobody never gave nothing to me!
As for St Greta -- I have never understood why world leaders and other leaders fall over themselves to listen to her and act on her commands. It truly is embarrassing. After all, they are meant to be the adults. Apparently, according to her at least (according to a newspaper report), the only people who complain about her are white middle-aged men Well, I suppose she receives lots of letters beginning, "Dear St Greta, as a white, middle-aged man...".
Anyway, thanks for this, but now I need to have a lie down.
Incidentally, it was this article that prompted me to subscribe!
Nov 23, 2022·edited Nov 24, 2022Liked by J. M. Elliott
I think is comes down to the fact that they believe in the meanies theory of history. They believe it, alas, because they were taught it by people who should have known better. And they believe it because it is simple and it explains everything.
The meanies theory of history is that all the bad things in life, all the ways in which your life is not one of continual bliss, is caused by meanies. Poverty? Caused by capitalist meanies. Inequality? Caused by racist meanies. Climate change? Pollution? Immigration problems? Housing crisis? Inflation? Meanies, meanies, and meanies.
Meanies is a very cogent explanation for all the ills of the world when you are six. It is suppose to be the job of parents and teachers to explain to you that life is more complicated than that. Alas, politicians have discovered that the meanies theory makes politics easy. Why hasn't the president fixed the economy or healthcare or the border? Meanies in Congress. All the ills of the world are caused by meanies. That is what politicians of every stripe assure us all day long.
We of the older generations bear no small part of the blame for this. We exploited the meanies theory of history for our own ends, we inserted it into our school curriculums, and we raised a generation who does not see it as a cynical tool to be used to get what they want, but as the actual explanation of all that is wrong in the world.
And if you are a child who has never been taught anything different, what do you see when you see people who are prosperous and responsible and hold positions of influence? You see meanies. People who have things that you don't? Meanies. People who don't do what you tell them to do? Meanies.
It is then quite useless to try to persuade them that getting rid of the meanies and all their meanie institutions will not lead at once to Shangri-La. They have no idea how things work. They think the world is a garden of Eden that would supply every want and wipe every tear, if it wasn't for those darned meanies.
I’m with Leigh here: I’m nearly 40 (so an ‘original’ millennial) and I, too, loathe the hyper-sensitive, hyper-dramatic and, let’s face it, navel-gazing and narcissistic youngster myth we’re living through now. Jonathan Haidt covers this well in The Coddling of the American Mind. These kids are so overly privileged it’s not even funny. The lack of self-awareness and respect for generations before them is astounding. Every new generation pushes back against the one that raised them, but the current level of arrogance is pretty shocking.
I love reading other peoples' perspectives of what they think it's like to grow old. I don't really know what old is, or aging. I don't really pay attention to it, to be quite honest. Time is fleeting, they say, and they actually say it for good reason. My hair has turned from the salt and pepper grey it used to be, to white...ish. I'm only 64. Today, I had to go in and hand in my retirement papers. I'm out in January. Done. And yet, when I started 45 years ago--in the same place--I never thought I'd work there for that long. I guess you could say I've become complacent to aging. I was told age is 23 years older than you are right now. That puts me at 87. According to my "85 & out" philosophy of life, I'd already be dead. I think the problem people have with aging is that it frightens them. People are afraid to die, afraid to be old, or neglected; afraid of suffering through the ailments they think comes with aging. And, well, there may be some truth to that. But I look at this stage of my life as I enter it, as a chance to do for myself those things I couldn't do when I was helping to raise my family. This time, it's for me. I look at the younger generations and say, Thank God I don't have to go through that shit again.
Thank you for some great thoughts going into the holiday.
I think humanity goes through cycles driven by technological innovation. What did the printing press do to the ruling religious in Europe? The protests of the 60s came on the back of new streams of information (war footage in Vietnam) and the breakdown of trust in the government and governing systems in the country.
The internet has allowed floods of voices to claim authority and question the powerful. Naturally young people gravitate towards questioning the “old guard.” On the positive end of that you see things like the Harvey Weinsteins of the world going to prison after years of abuse. On the negative end we have a rise in intolerance from, in my mind, every “group” of people. I don’t think it will win out in the end.
The total banning of ideas bothers me more than anything. Fortunately I see a lot of backlash to those bans, and rightfully so. I think the pendulum will swing regarding the people of the past as well. We owe them for the world we’ve been given, the good and the bad. And there’s so much good.
I'm a Millennial and this youth worship drives me bonkers. Especially since it's mainly people my age doing it. I personally see it as an unhealthy way to deal with aging. Rather than embracing or even accepting the fact that we're no longer in our 20s, some Millennials opt to pander to the most obnoxious, radical Zoomers instead.
It's not great for young people either. That's way too much pressure to put on people who are just starting to figure out who they are.
Great post and comments. As a member of the "older generation" I agree with you all. Here's an email I received a while back and think it might be relevant to this post:
A self-important college freshman walking along the beach took it upon himself to explain to a senior citizen resting on the steps why is was impossible for the older generation to understand his generation. " You grew up in a different world, actually an almost primitive one" the student said loud enough for others to hear. " The young people of today grew up with television, jet planes, space travel, man walking on the moon. We have nuclear energy, ships and cell phones, computers with light speed...and many more."
After a brief silence, the senior citizen responded as follows.
"You're right son. We didn't have those things when we were young...so we invented them. Now, you arrogant little shit what are you doing for the next generation?"
The applause was amazing!
Well said. I've been working on something similar. I don't know if this happened in the USA, but in the UK some time ago a lot of young people were complaining that we 'boomers' had all of life's luxuries and that it wasn't fair, and that we should get to the back of the line for Covid vaccinations because we had it all. My internal reaction, very politically incorrect, was that maybe they should get off their posterior and deal with it instead of whingeing. I hate the fact that as I get older I'm starting to sound more and more like my parents' generation, but I can't help recalling living through an inflation rate of 28% (at one point) and holding down 7 jobs to keep a roof over my head. To quote Elvis Presley: Nobody never gave nothing to me!
As for St Greta -- I have never understood why world leaders and other leaders fall over themselves to listen to her and act on her commands. It truly is embarrassing. After all, they are meant to be the adults. Apparently, according to her at least (according to a newspaper report), the only people who complain about her are white middle-aged men Well, I suppose she receives lots of letters beginning, "Dear St Greta, as a white, middle-aged man...".
Anyway, thanks for this, but now I need to have a lie down.
Incidentally, it was this article that prompted me to subscribe!
I think is comes down to the fact that they believe in the meanies theory of history. They believe it, alas, because they were taught it by people who should have known better. And they believe it because it is simple and it explains everything.
The meanies theory of history is that all the bad things in life, all the ways in which your life is not one of continual bliss, is caused by meanies. Poverty? Caused by capitalist meanies. Inequality? Caused by racist meanies. Climate change? Pollution? Immigration problems? Housing crisis? Inflation? Meanies, meanies, and meanies.
Meanies is a very cogent explanation for all the ills of the world when you are six. It is suppose to be the job of parents and teachers to explain to you that life is more complicated than that. Alas, politicians have discovered that the meanies theory makes politics easy. Why hasn't the president fixed the economy or healthcare or the border? Meanies in Congress. All the ills of the world are caused by meanies. That is what politicians of every stripe assure us all day long.
We of the older generations bear no small part of the blame for this. We exploited the meanies theory of history for our own ends, we inserted it into our school curriculums, and we raised a generation who does not see it as a cynical tool to be used to get what they want, but as the actual explanation of all that is wrong in the world.
And if you are a child who has never been taught anything different, what do you see when you see people who are prosperous and responsible and hold positions of influence? You see meanies. People who have things that you don't? Meanies. People who don't do what you tell them to do? Meanies.
It is then quite useless to try to persuade them that getting rid of the meanies and all their meanie institutions will not lead at once to Shangri-La. They have no idea how things work. They think the world is a garden of Eden that would supply every want and wipe every tear, if it wasn't for those darned meanies.
I’m with Leigh here: I’m nearly 40 (so an ‘original’ millennial) and I, too, loathe the hyper-sensitive, hyper-dramatic and, let’s face it, navel-gazing and narcissistic youngster myth we’re living through now. Jonathan Haidt covers this well in The Coddling of the American Mind. These kids are so overly privileged it’s not even funny. The lack of self-awareness and respect for generations before them is astounding. Every new generation pushes back against the one that raised them, but the current level of arrogance is pretty shocking.
Well-written little article. Happy Thanksgiving 🦃
Michael Mohr
Couldn’t agree more with what you wrote! Thank you for sharing your thoughts, and in turn...bringing my own thoughts to life.
You talk about civilization as if it only exists in the USA. Perhaps you too might consider people in other parts of the world.
Are we just grumpy old men shouting at clouds?
Fourth Turning: Crisis (rebirth)
First Turning: High (growth)
Second Turning: Awakening (maturation)
Third Turning: Unraveling (entropy)
Fourth Turning: Crisis (rebirth)
The Fourth Turning Theory | Forecast For The 2020s And Beyond