With Jonathan Abimbola
Goke shifted uneasily on the steel seat as he gazed absentmindedly at the plasma television in the reception room. While waiting for his turn to see the doctor, he had drifted into thoughts about life. At the moment, he is disturbed by the endless conflicts between him and his teenage children.
Why would Labode, his first born and only son insist on choosing “ordinary” dance as a profession. What is the logic in preferring such a silly stuff to noble careers like Medicine, Law or Engineering? So far, the “unreasonable” youngster has stuck to his gun on the matter while stubbornly rejecting his father’s appeal, coaxing offers and coded threats.
Labake, his sixteen-year-old daughter, is even worse. She has consistently refused to wear any clothes her loving mother bought for her, dismissing them all as outdated styles. Her choices of “weird” hairdos often pitched her against her parents. She was once engaged in a noisy argument with an elderly usher in their church. The confrontation resulted from resisting the order to keep her android set temporarily and use a hard copy Bible she was offered during sermon time. She would not comply with what she called an “ancient principle”.
From all indications, young people and older adults perceive, think, interpret and react to matters/issues differently. Due to these contrasting peculiarities, relationship between both groups, either at home, school or corporate organization, is usually frosty and full of friction. Hence, it is very common to see young people being at loggerheads with their parents, teachers and the older generation in general, practically over everything under the sun. Let us see how these sharp differences in psychological make-up trigger discord and disharmony in some everyday situations.
For example, many talented and creative youths of today are no longer interested in serious studies. Taking a cue from star musicians, actors, stand-up comedians, on-air-personalities (OAPs) and sportsmen (especially footballers) whose stardom has little or nothing to do with formal education, they have jettisoned the age-long orientation that academic qualification is the surest route to success. Of course, such change in mindset has pitted some teenagers against their “old school” parents.
Again, these twenty-first century fellows take the kind of liberty that often embarrass and annoy the older folks. Gone are those days when adolescents keep their romantic relationship away from the prying eyes of parents. Today’s youths have no qualms dating or discussing sexuality matters before their parents and other adults relatives.
Talking about passion, the youths put in their boundless energy into whatever they believe in. Unlike the sober-minded, business-like older generation, they are not known to suppress their excitement. Check out how they follow the English premier(football) league with “fanatical” fanfare. Undoubtedly, most adults barely tolerate this as they consider it a sheer waste of energy, money and time.
Young people tend to bend towards trends and are generally given to peer influence. Unfortunately, many of such acts of conformity often run contrary to convention, cultural and moral values which the elders, especially their parents, would not compromise. Hence, at such points, the inter-generational clash becomes inevitable.
Perhaps, the worst case is where a task is assigned to any group constituted by members of both age brackets. Zealous as ever, the youths would propose new ideas with readiness to dare the odds while the elders would suggest a cautious approach that involves less risk. The resulting ding-dong affair usually slows down collective progress.
It should be noted also, that the advent of information and communication technology(ICT) has further widened the existing gulf between the younger generation and their “senior“
It will be an understatement to say that majority of older men and women know next to nothing about the operation of computers, the internet and various task-facilitating applications. So, it is not surprising to see some fifty-years-plus adults issuing blanket condemnation on lucrative online activities, referring to them all as yahoo-yahoo(internet fraud).
Sadly that opinion is borne out of ignorance of current global realities.
The constant challenge, therefore, is how to bridge the generational gap for society’s benefit. To achieve this goal, the older generation (including parents) should be more tolerant with these “big kids”. As long as it would not hurt anyone, they should be allowed to express their creative abilities. Youths, on their part, must respect and honour elders, and recognize their authority where that is applicable, knowing that in spite of it all, they mean well. Both parties must avoid undue suspicion and unfair criticism. Surely, a blend of adults’ priceless experience and youths’ enviable dynamism can work wonders any day.
