“Today’s young people disrespect their elders. They disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They ride in the streets inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decayed. What is to become of them?” (O’Toole, 2019). This statement is not from any of our parents but from Plato, who lived 2400 years ago. Similar words are heard through the generations. Every old generation considers the younger generation to be decidedly extravagant, relentless and dissolute compared to them and declare, “We were NOT like this!”
Every old generation complains about the clothing of the younger generation. In 1970 South India, girls were expected to wear a full skirt covering ankles and a blouse which was a modified version of a shirt, almost touching the thighs; with a closed collar and half sleeves. Few fashionable girls wore shorter blouses and churidars. Pants for girls were not heard of. The girls who were deprived of the fashionable short blouses and churidars, grew up dreaming about providing all kinds of dresses for their unborn children. Eventually, they grew up, got married and had children. As per their resolution, they provided ‘their’ favourite short blouses and churidars to their children. Unfortunately, the fashion now is changed, and the present generation is no more interested in the old-outdated ‘short blouses’. Now it is time for short skirts and tighter jeans, which hardly covers their navel. For the mothers of long blouses-age, this development is outrageous and abhorring. She utters in disbelief, “We were NOT like this”.
Another critical point of comparison between any two generations is entertainment. In the 1970s girls listened to the radios intently. Many girls could leave for their schools only after listening to their favourite program on the radio and only when it became silent at 9.30 am. It was also a signal for the mothers to commence the household chores that would take them away from their Radios like washing clothes. The parents of this generation refrained the children from listening to the Radios and insisted on using Radios only during their free time. The young girls grew up hoping to have a radio for themselves. Later on, when they became parents, they could have personal transistors which ‘they’ missed so much but could not understand the younger generation’s addiction to the mobile phones and announce, “We were NOT like this!”
Social values have also changed from generation to generation. In the older generation, marriage between two different castes, religions etc. was considered hideous. This generation grew up resolving to be broad-minded and accepted marriages out of caste. Yet they turned out to loathe a boy marrying a boy or girl marrying a girl of the present generation and exclaim “We were NOT like this”.
Thus, every generation is the product of the science, technology, social, moral, economic values and beliefs of that particular period. Without understanding this, every older generation deduces they were better than the younger generation. Actually, at the core, we all remain the same.
Bibliography
O’Toole, G. (2019, March 3). The Riot in the Streets Inflamed with Wild Notions; Their Morals Are Decayed. Retrieved from Quote Investigator: www.qoteinvestigator.com
