The war since Generations amongst Generations...

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Posted by Radhika

"Today's generation has no values", " Today's generation does not want to take risks", "Today's generation has no patience", "Today's generation....." and the voice drifts away... only to leave the thought behind. What is wrong with Today's Generation?

Personality is shaped mainly by two factors: One, Heredity. Two, Environment. Likewise, today's generation is again a result of two similar factors - One, Upbringing and Two, Surroundings. There is always this debate on how times have changed and with that people. But of course, what do you expect? Hasn't the world around you changed?

Values are important and that is why we talk about family upbringing, country origin, morals and ethics. But these cannot be generalised, rather these need to be personalised. Who has drawn the line between a white lie and a black one? Who has defined moral and immoral acts? Is there a book which can be used as "Reference to context" which lists these according to context, culture, race, country etc. (Thankfully not!) It is You and Me who need to decide this for ourselves. These values, which we create for our ownselves with the help of our family, will create the foundation and will reflect as an offshoot of our decison-making while our actions will be a great influence of our surroundings. (See, we know what values are and we understand their importance too! Its just not so cool to talk about them ... Kidding...)

Darwin talked about Survival of the Fittest. As I see it, every generation changes its values, its mode of thinking, its actions to best adapt itself to the world around. When a message can reach from India to Africa in less than a second, the sender must be quick enough to keep in par with the pace too. When globalisation has become a way of life one needs to adapt to other cultures too. When the world thrives on competition, aggression, the Generation needs to be impatient. People complain that today's generation is less social and want to keep their small social circles - Sure! due to the busy lifestyle one would rather spend quality time with their closed ones instead of his father's mother's second cousin's sister's husband! The Generation is more crass, task-oriented, practical because that is the demand of today. To cling on to old values is fine as long as you can accept its variants that exist today but to hope that we must reiterate the values subscribed by Ramayan and Mahabharat is a little far-fetched. (I wouldn't be caught dead sitting under a Banyan Tree with an orange sari saying "Swami"!)   

The argument is never-ending.. the urge for regression will always remain.. the generation gap will always be a constant phrase but change is inevitable. Moreover, even the environment seems to be more accepting of the change and thus we talk about phenomenas like "global warming," "the degradation of environmental resources" etc. "Urbanisation, Globalisation, Commercialisation and the future tions have to have a cost attached and the next generation will surely be paying that price.

For now, I love being a part of Generation Y and I love paying the price for it too!