My Generation versus Yours: Questions for Us

One thing I have noted about the "younger" generation is the expectation of being constantly entertained. All seem to be glued to an electronic device, usually a smart phone, and become agitated when situations don't permit all of the constant texting, face-booking, snap chatting and whatever else they do on them.

 

I hear people today bitch about the poverty stricken. How someone ought to "Do something".

They have no clue, none.


Stare into the face of true desperation, spawned by real poverty. By real want. Real fear of dying from starvation.



People wonder why folks like my Dad (now RIP) - who grew up in the Depression thought that FDR was a God and the Democrats were man's best friend. The images above tell the tale.

Folks that have traveled extensively overseas or were where stationed by the military in some 3rd world sh!thole of a 'country' have seen that same desperation, fear and hunger.



fetid squalor is nearly universal outside of most, but not all, so-called "Developed countries"

And folks living in the US and under the age of ~40 are the most clueless - the younger you go, the worse it gets.

No harsh, they have never seen (or smelled) - firsthand - what true poverty really is. Few have had to live alongside of it for a year or more (Thanks Uncle Sugar, really loved that experience).

Sadly, traveler's tales and war stories just cannot convey the real depth of despair and hopelessness that many find themselves in these days. How to remedy that, I can't guess. Short of having the clueless live (Peace Corps?) in or at least among that squalor, they will never really know.

That's how I see the 'Generational divide' and that's why I prep - so my family (hope to the good lord above) won't have to play that tune....

 

After the songs been sung:

Want some heartbreaking photo's of my generation?

 

There has always been a gap between generations. What we have today though is something never seen before. A complete disconnect between even Gen X and Gen Y. There are exceptions to the rule but the rule is no respect for anyone outside of your peer group, Always blame the Baby Boomers and GenX for your situation, discount or straight up ignore wisdom and knowledge and reinvent the wheel and call it innovation. Oh and cry about how bad off you are nonstop and what you deserve and are owed. And the biggest Technology is not a tool it is a part of your very being.

 

Being a Gen-X'er, One can feel a lot of this disconnect, but I have also seen some amazing things from the Gen-Y'ers, especially in the service! I have been all over the world, and seen the worst shitholes humans continue to live in, and I have seen the very worst man is capable of, but I have also see some of the best that man is capable of! I say the electronics are a huge part of the problem, and the social disconnect as people no longer talk face to face, and a phone call is more of an inconvenience then a text message! I also blame the dual working parents home ( I am a latch key kid) so of this I can relate ( even worse, My Dad was at sea for several months at a time) And I blame the school system, especially the No Student Left Behind, and the every one MUST PASS, and the micro managing of the teacher in the class room, and on and on and on!!!!! I actually feel really bad to the Gen Y and Gen Z people, they get the big pickle right outa the gate and do not have the wisdom yet to pull them selves up by the boot straps and take control, and this has lead to all kinds of problems!

 

My woman made a good point I have been trying to convey:
At every turning point in our lives, we are told that there is an exact WAY to go about things, but we are never INSTRUCTED in what that "way" is. At best we are given a photograph or a literal pointing in the general direction of the task. Every question is shot down, or you are treated like a 4 year old instead of being taught.

It is not "whining" to ask for more information, nor to not have the words to "internet" the issue in the first place...and searching the internet is often the last thing we think of, especially when someone who KNOWS "what" and "how" is standing there impatiently looking at you like you are stupid.
And even having the internet there is not a plus, it is a detriment, because if you do not know HOW to sift the information, you are constantly doing and believing the Wrong thing, that you, in good conscience, think is correct. And then you get blamed or derided for your failure, because "everyone knows better" or it's just "common sense" not to do it that way.

And another point...you do know that there is a level of "conditioning" to being able to do long hours of manual labor? You take someone who has lived indoors for 18 years, left to entertain themselves, then expect them to do the same work as a man who has lived outdoors and done the same labor for 20 years; you will kill them. Know people fired all the time because the quotas for "work" are physically beyond them, and nobody cares.

Also from wife:
"I was using a skill that a previous generation (Baby Boomer) taught me, cleaning houses. One of the ladies I worked for was an avid quilter, so I asked her if she could teach me some skills for quilting...I love to sew, but so far was self taught. She told me to look everything up on Youtube...and that was that. She refused to even be at her house from then on so that I could not "bother" her again."
Got a lifetime of examples like this. And that is not getting into stupid shit I know about how people don't hire people right any more, or being legally able to work after the "Recession" hit...and "Ditch Digger" is not a profession anymore, you have to be a licensed backhoe driver with 2 years of professional experience before you can get that job.

The birth of "modern liberalism" is in the broken promises of the Life we were GROOMED for. Prepared for our entire lives. One that turned out to be anything but what we expected, and we didn't find out about until after we had completed the "journey" through college and found out everything we had been taught about "the Real World" was a lie. THAT is Generation Y, or at least my part of it.
And ideological and political predators swooped into the gap, that, one could argue, parenting and morals and experience, and genuine direction, should have seen those poor SOB past.

Honestly, is this whining to y'all?

 

I am Gen Y, and I had similar experiences even as early as grade school. I was a very well behaved student. I was quiet and a diligent worker. Because of this, I ALWAYS got put next to the kids that were loud and obnoxious, to inspire them to be better, or so I was told. Then my grades would suffer, and I'd just be out in cold. Experiences of this sort continued until college, when I could choose my own seats.

 

Well said @AxesAreBetter
I know kids that wanting to work isn't the issue it's lack of mentoring.

@RightHand touched on it when she talked about little or no grandparent interaction. This isn't blaming grand parents it's just a function of how our society operates

 

As a Baby Boomer I have seen that some people want to learn and some want to work but others want to not do anything. There is no generation that is any better than the other in this regard. The whole generation y,z or whatever is just confusing. I had to check the list to see what I was

 

LOL

I'm Generation OF

 

My three kids are all badasses. Ages range between 18 and 23. Way ahead of me at that age. I'm just peaking now.

 

I was born in 1950, and a great deal of my time was spent with older folk both on the job helping my dad in construction or in church especially socializing and hearing what life was like for them.
Many did not want to rehearse the past, much like foot soldiers not wanting to remember their battles . Times were bad, really bad .
But the big problem was getting strait information, a lot of things got no explanation, but an emotional opinion even at collage level.
" It is so, because I said so, and that's all you need to know." Was the answer a lot of time during their growing up .
I remember some of this in my early years ,but my dad was different , a bit rebellious of the old system seeing the lies and mis information being perpetuated by older generations . Some times dad fell into those mentalities he resented as he got older and invented answers he had speculated on . I knew that but didn't make a big deal out of them.
Even NASA had their problems because of politics, and "because I said so" policies. A lot of those scientists came from the older generations . (This from a close friend that worked amongst these men )
After the 2 W war parents wanted things better for their kids , problem was they did not realize that making things too easy made selfish lazy kids and they wanted all the stuff their parents had built up to ,instantly getting them selves in debt and creating greater debt all around. In stead of learning to live with in their means, unions demanded more money and strangled the economy al the more.
Now days kids are given the opportunity to make decisions in infancy ,and these argue with their parents or parents just give in to every thing to stop/prevent the whining . result= FAT selfish lazy kids.
Problem too is, parents can't spank the bratty kid or risk going to jail. People don't seem to know how to administer discipline with out anger. I as a child got spanked several times , and I deserved a lot more believe me.
But my parents did not discipline in anger , it was painful for them and I think it hurt me to know the disappointment my bad behavior meant to them and having to administer the necessary punishment.
My wife and I didn't need to , but the we didn't bend to our kids whining either as infants.
Quality of schooling is gone off the charts stupid, the dumbing down is every where but the home schools and private schools ,and they get flack from the public school system or the ignorant .
Competition is an important value, without it, life has no meaning ,hence kids commit suiside and abuse their bodies with drugs, alcohol and tats and loose relationships and reckless life styles .
This nanny state is making things even worse.
Democrats liberals have found that by making enough noise an trouble they get all they want regardless of what the rest of the state thinks, it's sick. and the people in government are the problem no personal discipline, and little accountability .
People Hillery an obama getting away with murder , kids see this and see that laws mean nothing and wickedness rules.
I fear future generations and the future of America.

 

My Gramps was "the man" even though I only have one small memory of him. Picking peas in his garden. I was 2 when he left this world. The stories I have been told are so cool. Left Poulsbo WA. on a train during the Depression. With a buddy. They were only 15. The other story I like is when a youngster on a logging site wanted a piece of him. He was 50 plus and knocked that boy out! Picked him up and drove him to the bar. He was the owner of the company. Lol. So cool.