What We Expect From Our Elders

Prepare for a rant.

“Today’s fickle youth are masters of their own. God knows where the world is leading to!” is a very common statement coming from almost every household where teenagers thrive. They just can’t seem to tire from ranting and raving about the younger generation. Now, as the world is coming closer and the generation ‘Y’ has absorbed their own different cultures, all our parents do is to frown and raise their eyebrows in contempt.

You might have heard a term called the ‘generation gap’. Of course, it’s only natural that the mindset of a parent would differ from their children. This is because they were raised up in different atmospheres that shaped their own way of thinking. And the world is changing rapidly. But now, as the very reasons for the obstacles in the modern society are considered to be a fault of the youth, it is, for a moment, necessary to think what we, the young, really expect of our elders.

Firstly, it should be realised and accepted by our elders that their age-old narrow-mindedness, orthodoxy and ultra-conservativeness sickens us and is never welcome in today’s urbanized, modern society. If they try to impose their outdated ideas or baseless rituals on the youngsters of today, it would not only widen the generation gap but also frustrate the youth. They should keep in mind that we have ideas of our won, our own ambitions to fulfil. In this course, we expect encouragement and felicitation, but not to be met with dissatisfaction.

Pointing out faults of the younger generation and always keeping the flag of elderly high, no matter right or wrong, are not really the responsibilities of our elders. We too have stumbled upon failures and took our experiences, so we don’t need useless preaching, thank you. Elders can only be able to give advice and show us the correct path, the main decision of choosing our way lies with us, so they shouldn’t take for granted that we would obediently accept their decisions and follow them like an aimless mule.

Privacy is also an important factor. Simply poking their noses into other’s businesses would only invite discontent. Do we ever poke into the elder’s matters? We are inflamed with curiosity for sure, but not to that extent. Elders have just surpassed us.

They should understand, the faster, the better, that today’s generation is smart, intelligent and independent. We take whatever is good and leave whatever is bad. If you don’t trust us, we can’t help it. We only expect our elders to be a harmonious blend of a carefree friend as well as an encouraging guide to advise us, turn an attentive ear to our problems and then leave our ambitions to our own rather than trying to continue with their age old ideas and imprint the same on us. Most of all, we need trust.

Even if we tell them at the stroke of midnight that we are studying, they shouldn’t suspect that we are away partying, because that implies that the elders don’t trust us. If they trust us, we too, will. In fact, the next time we head out to a friend’s house, we’d call them to tell them – for we know the dangers of travelling alone, and especially at night, and hope to keep them informed about our whereabouts whenever possible.

We are not a herd of booze-fuelled, crazy punks. We are all individuals in our own skin, advocating for the world, being the voice of our community. And just as everyone, we expect to leave the world in a better place than it used to be.

To all the elders who may be infuriated on reading this article, we humbly tell them that we have told nothing but the truth, and as we consider your wishes, you consider ours, because only that will foster the bond between us.

Sanika Tipre

Serial procrastinator and Photoshop addict.

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