No Generation is the Worst

 

Accusing any old or young generation for all of society’s problems is all too commonplace these days. According to the Baby Boomers, Generation Z is all lazy, stupid, and unwilling to work. According to Generation Z, the Baby Boomers are greedy, out of touch, and very inconsiderate. Neither of those generations, nor the ones in between them, want to admit that they are all guilty for creating the problems our country, our world has to grapple with.

            But if no single generation is responsible, than why are some of our most trifling issues older than we realize?

            Because history is not a blame game synchronized with each subsequent generation. It is a singular continuum where developments and life-changing actions bring prosperous highs and abysmal lows. If we were to understand history as being an unchanging sequence of each generation doing something appalling to the prior one, then it would mean that we could fully anticipate what every development would bring. It is this that provides a convenient measurement of success and loyalty expected for each young generation which, more often than not, muddies the truth of hardship and success.

            It is true that some criticisms about the Baby Boomers, like the rise of movements like Marxism and Evangelical fundamentalism, have produced many negative outcomes, but the Baby Boomers were pioneers of many industries, technologies, and companies that have benefitted the rest of us. The computer came about because of them. So did many great cornerstones of art, literature, and entertainment that every subsequent generation still enjoys. It is also not true that all of Generation Z is intellectual and more conscious about world developments. That generation suffers from a vast cohort of despairing men who vacate from any efforts to make a living to retreat into their bedrooms, indulging in video games or online pornography. Generation Z, my own generation, is also not known for being as bright, healthy, or peaceful as we want to make ourselves be. Yet no one ignores the fact that it also produced some exceptional fellows. Most of my high school friends have all set out on promising paths to success in many different fields and careers. One of them, Mac, is a young father. I have a nephew who is engaged and in pursuit of being a writer. That impresses me greatly.

            It still cannot be denied that the world itself has gotten worse. The COVID-19 Pandemic crippled many industries beyond the point of an easy recovery, and wars in places like Ukraine and Iran are not guaranteed to produce any kind of economic boom or renaissance. Too much damage has been done to make a full reversal possible even in the next few years. There is no way that the United States could fight a conflict like World War II and see extensive economic benefits from it and the entailing rebuilding. We are too quarrelsome, selfish, and suspicious of one another to make that possible. But if we want to get out of this stagnation, it is wise not to be pointing fingers at one generation or the other for supposedly all their wrongdoings fueling our problems. There are too many factors determining the course our country takes. Too many wildcards in the future to accurately foresee the path it is taking. And too many actors involved in the process to make collapse or resurgence certain.

            The now famous, but misconstrued and misattributed statements of Plato on the youth, supposedly the ones aiding the decline of the Athenian democracy, has especially been used as an analogue to our modern system of ageism. While it might be true to an extent, Plato, like the ancient Greek intellects and philosophes who came before him and would come after him, witnessed the gradual unravelling of the Athenian democracy from his segment of the historical continuum. Unless one dies early, one is bound to see inevitable profound changes in his own lifetime. In my own lifetime, this is assuredly the case. It should always be remembered that no single person, nor any particular set of people, are responsible for all this change. It is humanity as a collective that is responsible for propelling themselves into the future they make for themselves. The firsts among equals spearhead the change along with the lucky accidents and the hand of God, but it is the general masses that maintain the momentum.