The Youth of Today

Maybe its more a sign of my age than anything else, but more and more often these days I see posts or links or shares on Facebook talking about "The Youth of Today." These are usually rants or snarky comments about how "kids" today don't understand the world, how they expect everything delivered to them on a platter, products of the internet, television, and liberal government.

Now maybe these people weren't thinking about their kids, or the kids they know. People rarely are. Their kids are different, better, but surrounded by a bad influence known only as "The Youth of Today." And while our kids have problems, most can surely be placed at the feet of their friends, maybe not the ones we know and love and help raise but those OTHER kids, "The Youth of Today."

This is a post to say that "The Youth of Today" do not exist. There are only kids, young, strong, beautiful young people who work, play, live and breathe across the globe. I have worked with them, played with them, laughed with them, cried with them, read their stories and heard their complaints. And here, "Old People of Today," is the truth about the youth of today.

The Youth of Today are hard workers. They work harder than their parents did, possibly harder than their grandparents. Thanks be to God, they do not share the legacy of the children who, even to this day, are forced to work in mines, who worked the fields instead of going to school, or who are forced to carry guns and be toy soldiers in the games of war the older men play. But if they did, if that had been their lot, they would have carried that pick, that hoe, that gun, and gone forward and done their best because that is what the Youth of Today DO.

The world is expected of them and they know it. The Youth I know have spent nearly every day of their lives being told of the American Dream, where one person can lift themselves up by their bootstraps and conquer the world, told that this is what is expected of them, to be doctors and lawyers and star athletes and politicians and whatever else their parents always dreamed for them, and for the most part, they step up and do as expected because that is what the "Youth of Today" do. And when, in a rare moment, one of them looks up at the world and says that they want to choose their own fate, not the one chosen for them, we, the Old of Today, shake our heads and say; "The Youth of Today have no ambition."

So they work. From homework to sports practice to music to social clubs and youth groups they work hard, nearly every moment of every day budgeted. They watch their parents highly scheduled lives and assume theirs must be the same and so they go forward and do whatever they can. And then, at the end of the day, when they finally have a free moment to themselves, and they are too tired to run out to the sandlot to pose for a Norman Rockwell painting, instead choosing to play video games, watch TV, or just sleep, we, the Old of Today, shake our heads and say; "The Youth of Today are lazy."

And then, when it is all over, after all of their work and time and sacrifice, they look for the rewards, the American Dream. They have been told that hard work is rewarded and so after they work hard, they expect the reward. So they look for the jobs their educations have won them, they look for the salary those jobs will provide them, they look for the houses those salaries will pay for. But often, they aren't there. Because hard work and education are not a true promise of success. They MIGHT succeed, but sometimes luck does not go their way. And yet when they ask where their promised rewards are, the Old of Today shake our heads and say; "The Youth of Today expect life to be delivered to them."

So stop. Stop shaking your head so condescendingly at them, or sighing in frustration at them. You don't know them. Look instead at your own kids, and what you say to them. Did you teach them that every moment must be filled, that the greatest sin was a lazy afternoon? Then do not be shocked and surprised when when they do not play as you once did. Did you teach them that success was the certain result of hard labor? Then do not be surprised when they ask after those rewards if they do not come.

And finally, if in all their audacity, the Youth of Today choose a dream that is not yours, to pursue a trail you did not blaze, and to make a life you do not understand, do not write it off as a failing of their generation. For while there is no crime in wanting to please one's elders, greatness lies in choosing your own path.

And to you youth of today, keep your heads held high. The world is hard, success is fleeting, and pain is everywhere. But there is also joy. And in the small window of time between now and when I was counted among "The Youth of Today," I have often found that joy in getting to know you.