Daily Mood Quote
Day 93 – August 4, 2011
Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength.
~Betty Friedan
I have a question: When did uneducated and inexperienced become the solution? Isn't that the same kind of thinking that is responsible for some of the problems we face today? I don't know, but it seems when experienced and educated professionals come to the table, instead of respecting those who have earned it, the behavior begins to mirror that of an unruly teenager who rolls his/her eyes and the frustrated parent who knows he can longer teach, because they're not going to listen anyway. Game over.
Last night, I watched The CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley, interesting reporter Mr. Pelley is, he seems to ask the hard hitting questions that many gloss over. In a news report, he interviewed four unemployed, educated, experienced professionals, who have been out of work, from 14 months to more than two years, due to lay offs, downsizing or closing companies They had positive attitudes and believed they will find jobs. This despite the fact that one was told in an interview, “they were looking for someone younger with newer, fresher ideas.” Just another way of saying, “your too old?” Where I live, they don't say anything, or they just lie. Either way, still game over.
A very wise man once said to me, “You know, when we're 18, no one can tell us or teach us anything, because we know it all. When we are 26, we realize we only know half of what we thought we knew when we were 18. And, when we are 40, we realize we know nothing and are now open to learning everything.” Except, now the 40 and older crowds are dealing with the 18 to 39 year olds, who have the power to hire and we are... well, “dinosaurs” in their eyes. I wonder if this attitude stems from parent/child relationships? I guess Tom Stoppard was right, when he said, “Age is a very high price to pay for maturity.”
My husband says, “The baby boom generation is just getting our due” he elaborated with, “This is how our generation treated their elders, the planet, and the economic system... complete disrespect, we abused it and let it to rot.” Then he asked the question, “What did you think would happen?” Boy, I want to believe he is wrong, but I don't think so. He says, “Not everyone is guilty of acting like this, but we are all, as a group, paying the price.” Last night I also watched (it was a television night) Al Gore's “An Inconvenient Truth” I know we think our economic troubles are a huge issue, but when you think about the price we are about to pay environmentally, it seems that we have truly neglected our responsibility to the greatest elder on the planet... the planet. I don't think she is going to stand for it. The next generation will have that on their plate as well. No wonder they're pissed.
Again, it was our generation who drove this response and set the example. Did we not as a generation worship youth, say never trust anyone over 30 and put our parents in adult day cares, rather than take care of them, because we had “other things” to do? Ours is the first generation in history to leave the world a worst place than when we arrived. So, how do you think the next generation is going to respond to that? I'm not saying its right or that I like it, I certainly don't, but the examples have been set and you just can't turn an 18 wheeler on a dime. Payment is now due and the Bank of Human Trust is a tough creditor, my friend (thanks The Family Man with Nicolas Cage).
In the movie, Baby Boom, J.C. Wiatt (played by Diane Keaton) said, “I can't have a baby because I have a 12:30 lunch meeting.” Is this really the mindset of our generation and the example that was set by us? I know a woman from the very tail end of our generation (The Baby Boom), who from the very day she became pregnant, starting looking for a daycare. This is someone who “wants a baby,” just doesn't have the time to raise the baby, isn't that why daycare's were invented? Sad... OK, so the piper needs payed and our generation is going to have to dig deep to cough up our share. Whether we like it or not.
I usually end the blog with a positive spin and to that end I offer this thought. The thoughtless behavior of our generation may have put us in this jam, but better to be in a jam, with the “education” and “will” it takes to climb out, than to, without hope, surrender to the gravity of time and sink to the bottom of the jar.
What changes will you make today for a better tomorrow?
Tune in tomorrow to read the daily mood quotes
Thank you for reading
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