15 of 42

Disagree

Write now Article Tools

On a warm Spring evening in 1977 I sat listening to the class valedictorian's speech about our responsibilities in the years coming; all the preparedness that we must assume mastery of in order to take over the mantle of leadership from the generation that came before us All the old rhetoric sounded so clich at the time.

How could we know?

Can today's youth really know?

My generation is, and will most likely forever be, the largest generation of retired persons this nation will ever host. We will place the largest of all demands upon the crumbling structures of Social Security and Medicare; some experts claim that we will eventually bankrupt those agencies; thus we have all been busy through our ever-increasing life spans to horde up our wealth and invest to secure our own retirement. After all, when we reach sixty-five, we believe it will be the new forty-five.

We will be in better shape physically than any generation before us. We are living longer. We are taxing the system like it has never been before; we don't even really know if we will break it all down or not. That is the problem our kids will face.

But, do they know it? Are they ready?

Were we?

Human beings, especially Americans, are quite adept at making the best of the situation. We are a nation of problem solvers as well as movers and shakers. Those kids lazing about on our sofas watching cable and playing video games will be the next round of business professionals, doctors, lawyers and politicians leading the globe to the next plateau. Believe it or not, they are going to make things work in their own way-just as we did!

No, they are not ready now. But, in the colleges and work places they are finding their own place, their own position from which they can move forward. Sure, there will be a lot of us baby-boomers hanging around, mostly in their way, with all the old advise that they will probably wish we'd simply shut up about. So be it

Things change Things remain the same, after a fashion.

I know for certain that my parents and grand parents worried incessantly over my generation; they didn't feel as if we understood the value of things, or the importance of traditions being carried on. We were never going to amount to much if we kept our hair so long, or if we kept on listening to Rock-n-roll. The movies we watched were all nothing but sex, violence and cursing! It must have seemed as if we were going to drive the nation straight into the bowels of hell.

Now, we are asking the same questions.

So, to the youth of today, from the youth of yesterday: Keep moving and stay the course!

Learn more about this author, S Bond Herndon.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about The youth of today are not ready for the challenges of tomorrow?
We want to hear your view. Write now!