On perceived generation gaps

[Webmaster]

When I was in my late teens, I summarily considered adults as the oppressive, clueless "establishment" (we loved that word and used it with sneering contempt).

In my early 20s, I recall a situation where a friend of mine was hanging out with someone who was 34. That alarmed me. It just didn't seem right. That old person simply had got to have something up his sleeve to hang out with someone 12 years younger. I was very suspicious.

The other day I read someone young saying a project was run by people in their 40s, clearly implying that folks that old surely don't get it anymore.

That age stuff is just all so weird. Because, in fact, nothing changes. Humanity has genetically been the same for many thousands of years. An ancient Roman or Greek is absolutely no different from someone living today. The only thing that happens is that new humans, once they gain command of their body and brain, need to find a way to assimilate all that went before (i.e. the accumulated knowledge of mankind) while still developing the sense of self that makes a life meaningful and worth living.

When you think about it, that's not easy. To find a sense of self you need to somehow set yourself up as your own person, yet in order to do so, you need to be able to learn from those who came before, the very folks you seek to separate yourself from. Tough job, but everyone must go through it.

When you get older, nothing really changes. Life's the same sandbox or school yard, only you now play with real money. You gain experience with failure and success, and you get used to stuff. But that, again, is no different from morphing from a skittish high school freshman to learning the ropes as a sophomore and junior to becoming a suave senior who knows it all.

So it's all a big charade, and age simply is a series of societal assumptions and conventions. You're supposed to act so and so at a certain age, though that's mostly artificial ("act your age!"). At every age you have a certain market value as a potential partner, both personal and in business. And as you get older, there are more and more layers of humans whose sense of self worth relies on not being like you.

And yet, we're all the same, no matter how desperately the media tries to classify generations x, y, and z. Younger and older people aren't inherently different. Witness online discussions between young and old when no one knows their ages; it's just people exchanging views. But that productive state instantly changes when their respective ages come into play.

It all has got to be this way, of course; it's the natural turn of things.

[Dr. Feelgood]

When I was young, I was embarrassed by the mistakes my parents' generation had made and relieved that my contemporaries and I were enlightened enough to avoid them.

Now that I am no longer young, and have made all the same mistakes my parents' generation made (and then some), I listen to young people tell me how glad they are that they know enough to avoid my generation's mistakes , and I smile and nod my head.

[Webmaster]

This past week I spent on a dive boat in the Sea of Cortez. It was a 110 foot boat specially designed for scuba, and the 18 divers on board ranged from 14 to 70. For once, age didn't matter at all; everyone was simply a diver. There weren't any cliques, groupings, or different treatments (well, the 14-year-old had a 40 foot depth limit). We swam and dived with dolphins, sea lions and whale sharks, explored uninhabited islands and beaches, marveled at the 47-year-old free diver who came to visit the scuba contingent at almost 90 feet, and just generally had a blast, all ages.

[Russell Williams]

It sounds like a very wonderful experience. Count your blessings.