Generational Change

Trigger Warning: This makes mention of stereotypes and beliefs/views that readers may find sensitive.

This is only my personal opinion and doesn't reflect the opinions of others.

I went to recipient rights training yesterday for my new job in the human services/social work field, and I found it surprising they had to include instructions not to use certain words like "crackhead" or "the r word." I found it surprising because I thought it was a given. I thought it was obvious not to call people those things. But there were other people in that room from older generations, and I got reminded that, at a different time, calling people by words that modern-day would coin as offensive were actually okay. I'm not attacking older generations at all. No. At that time, no one knew any better. We are social creatures, and that was simply how culture was.

I am glad that times have changed and that we have improved. There's still a lot of work to be done. For example, there's still a ton of stigma surrounding mental illnesses. However, it gives me hope that we have come somewhere. I was surprised by how normalized such cruel words were back in the day.

I suppose what's scarier is that I learned in my social psych class that once you get through your 20's, your mind starts to get set in its ways. By 25, the brain is developed fully. It's scary because I know there's probably generational stuff today that won't be permissible in future generations. I think it's something we'll continually see because times change. It scares me to think that maybe I won't be able to adjust my own beliefs or my own mannerisms to the future.

At least it used to scare me. But I have faith in myself that I would be able to be respectful even if I didn't agree. I see older people today who have accepted that times have changed. They are the ones I look up to. Even though they were socialized so much different and grew up so much differently, they're willing to sacrifice everything they know to be adaptable to newer generations and to respect people today. An example is calling someone by their preferred pronouns. That wasn't a thing back in the day. LGBTQ+ people were called awful names and weren't even seen as people in some contexts. To see the change though and to see that there are older people seeing the LGBTQ+ community as people and seeing that what was a thing back in the day wasn't okay in today's world, that makes me so happy.

I also recently watched a thriller that was a little bit older, and I couldn't help but notice how sexualized the main character's girlfriend was. She was randomly in a bikini when none of the other characters were; she was wearing robes and underwear in all her scenes. She was not even given a name, or it wasn't mentioned enough that I remember her name. All I know is she's the guy's girlfriend. She's property in the movie. She doesn't have a personality like the other characters. She's just there for the guy. I didn't like this. It's something that we wouldn't see today. This is just one example of a change that needed to be had. Now, on the other hand, I freaking love Pretty in Pink and Breakfast Club. Those are classics I'll watch over and over. I'm not dissing older times. There are some old songs and old movies I love and don't think should change at all. I'm trying to equally defend both sides, both generations. Neither generation is perfect.

I think there are definitely awesome traditions that we should hold onto. I love learning about history and the way things were. But when it comes to the treatment of people, I feel like it's a constant evolving thing. We have to accept that in our country's history we had a lot of discrimination, racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. We still have that today, and that's because we're holding onto those things, afraid to make changes from the past. Shirley Jackson's short story, The Lottery, pokes fun at this idea; it's a story that includes a stoning that has no explanation for existing other than it's been going on for so long; if people did it before, it must be right is the sarcastic question is poses. There's no thinking behind it. Staying the same and not changing anything requires no effort. It's easier to do than reassess and think about how a stoning is inhumane. It's a story I read in my AP Lit class in high school; I highly recommend it.

We have come a long way, but I think it really is a generational thing. I have a lot of hope with younger generations being able to change things. They're able to live in the world and develop their brains; they aren't set in their ways. They see things from a fresh perspective. I would love to see generations come together for such changes. And I'm not asking older generations to give up everything. All I'm asking is that we all treat each other equally. It's one thing to prefer CD's over Spotify, but it's a totally different thing to make racial comments toward someone from a different country. One is a preference, the other one is basic human rights that are being violated. I think it's possible for older generations to see that, I think communities just need to do a good job of communicating that. I think the younger generations, instead of distancing themselves from the older and stereotyping them and saying they're all bad, I think they need to teach older generations and older generations should teach young people, too.

It's a compromise. I do agree that we are on our phones too much. I mean "we" as in younger generations. Technology has taken over our world and many younger people such as myself can be addicted. Instead of stereotyping our generation though, give us reasons to get off of it. Tell us stories of back in the day, good stories. Build connections between the generations. We need more kindness and community. I'm not addicted to my phone. I put it away to do my writing and my work and my exercise and everything. I utilize my phone in productive ways. There are many other young people who do this same thing. Just like not all older people are racist, not all younger people are addicted to their phones. I actually have a friend who was rear ended and had to wear a neck brace for a while because an older woman hit her; the older woman was the one texting, not her. There are also younger people who may have racist tendencies. We limit people by putting them under one confining umbrella.

We need to be done with the labels and stereotypes of our generations. We need to see people as people. We spend all our time yelling and arguing with each other. We're creating more divisions. Today, we have several North and Souths. Pretty sure we don't want another Civil War. Today, our Norths and Souths come in the form of Republicans vs Democrats, Older Generations vs Younger Generations, etc. We need to come together. Not a single person can be defined by one label. We are all multifaceted, complex human beings. Being born at a certain time doesn't mean we're like our time. Have you ever heard of a young person having an old soul? It happens!

I find that most people actually are in the middle of all these divisions. Like me. It's extremely stressful having friends on different sides who won't even talk to each other. Let's change that. Please.

I love my younger peers and my older grandparents. I learn from both and I have things in common with both. Imagine what we can do if we put both our views and thoughts together. Right now we are one generation in my eyes. We're all living in 2023 right now. We all know everyone should be treated equally, we all know that kindness matters, so why is it by the time we view our analytics, kindness is the one thing we're lacking the most?