The Old Men and The Sea of Change
Nowadays it is common to hear some of us, old men and women, lamenting that we are not paid any attention we deserve from our young near and dear children and grandchildren. A sense of redundancy appears to have grown over us and we fuss and fret about being marginalized.
This set me thinking for some time now. My sense is that we oldies and not the youngsters are responsible for it. We have not come out of the cocoons of our old understandings, beliefs, and prejudices. Little have we realized that in our own lifetime a lot many things have changed; changes in social and economic lifestyles, values and customs, technology, family relationships, privacy concerns, etc. While many of us have not only not recognized and accepted them, some are even questioning them. Our failure to cope with these changes has resulted in a big generational gap. Even if we are ready to learn and adopt these changes and be on par with our youngsters, the youngsters have no time in their competitive lifestyle to teach and upskill us.
Let me cite a few areas as examples where we are far behind our present times.
First, we face quite a problem in understanding their lingo. Perhaps because of the speed of their lifestyle, they are given to brevity of language. So, when they tell us “cool”, it is not to shut us up but rather say, let us agree to disagree. Similarly, when they freely use the four-letter word f**k, they only suggest getting lost. The emoticons they use to convey emotions are works of great creativity. have saved hundreds of words
Most of us are not trained to use modern technology. At best, we have coped with the computer and the internet. Today it is the age of Robotics, AI (Artificial Intelligence) ChatGpt , notwithstanding their potential to damage our instinctive creativity. We used to learn gambling from watching the Casinos where real currency was used. Today, our youngsters talk about making millions by trading in Bitcoins using blockchain technology. Would we ever be able to master these marvels of technology?
In our times, such of us as were politically and societally sensitive, we talked about the indiscriminate use of atomic energy and fossil fuels. Today, our youngsters are worried about global warming, climate change, and the greenhouse effect. How many of us can engage them in insightful debate/discussion to share perceptions?
We disdain modern forms of music like Heavy metal or Gully rap which attract them more than even the sober sitar of Ravi Shankar. Do we even show patience in listening when the youngsters play them loud?
Therefore, if we want to be counted, we must upgrade and upskill ourselves to adopt the continuous changes happening all around us. Then alone we will feel we are not sell-by date products past the expiry date.
Rise Up Ye Old Men &Women, We Have Nothing To Lose But Only Learn
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