The year 1997 was a momentous one indeed. Just over a quarter of a century ago, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Seinfeld were among the hottest shows on TV. Wi-fi and camera phones began to infiltrate our everyday lives, and the world made a tearful tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, who died in a tragic car crash.
It was also the year I tossed my cap into the air and, feeling slightly apprehensive though very bullish about the future, made my way into the working world.
Covering some recent high school graduations in Plamondon and Lac La Biche, and interviewing the valedictorians of those schools brought about a wave of nostalgia — not to mention a concern that I’m getting old. Well, perhaps not old as in timeworn and rudely out of touch (I do consider myself well-versed in many current trends), but nonetheless, dated enough that I could be considered a blast from the past, a living remnant from a historical period Generation Z only reads about online or re-lives for a couple of hours in such classics as Clueless or E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
My childhood and youth were a time when such terms as social media, texting, and instant messaging were still light-years away from being in our vocabularies. Forget Netflix or Amazon Prime; back in what now seems like the Jurassic Period, outside of sitting home to watch whatever was on the tube, you could make a trip to the neighbourhood video store to rent the latest flicks. While today’s youth take cell phones for granted, in less enlightened times, your options were to either to call your friends at home (usually on one of those old dial phones, I must add), physically go over there, or try to find them.
The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle once pointedly asked; ‘What’s wrong with young people today?’
As we get older, it can be tempting to wag an accusing finger at younger generations, as though, due to our age and wisdom, we’re somehow superior, and even when we were that age, our behavior wasn’t that abhorrent, right?
When all is said and done, every generation has its moral and upright members as well as its bad apples, challenges, and achievements. It’s been this way since the dawn of time. And, for better or for worse, each subsequent generation does what it can to solve vexing issues and create a safer, more prosperous world for its descendants.
Today’s high school graduates are set to inherit a world plagued by climate change, widespread income inequality, economic instability, and increasing political polarization that threatens to upend the social fabric of entire nations. On the flip side of all this doom and gloom are advances in technology that promise to create many employment opportunities and improve our-slash-their quality of life.
Like all generations before, many of us will simply shake our heads and with a resounding ‘No’ exclaim that today’s youth are too weak and too coddled to take on the monumental problems placed before them. But as we grow older, we must be willing to pass on the torch and trust the youth of today to be the leaders of tomorrow.
If you happen to know of a youth or two in your life, please Tik-Tok them a short video explaining where to find this article.
