The elderly and the young are two distinct groups of people in society who differ in their behaviour, likes, dislikes, and nature in a variety of ways, but no matter how many conflicts and disagreements there are, together they complement and need one another. Let’s delve into this topic in-depth and try to grasp their sentiments and viewpoints.
Recently many cases came up in the news where we saw youth abused and thrashed elders for different reasons. Seeing such incidents, elders feel like they are not being treated properly by society as they are withdrawn from social and working life and are not given enough respect that they expect from society. Whereas youth feel that elders seem to be unchanging and closed-minded. Such frequent clashes between elders and young also make one wonder where our society is going and whether our society needs to remind us of our ideals and civilizations.
The current generation’s open-minded-ness is a crucial component in widening the generation gap. The elder generation appears to be more closed to new ideas and perspectives, whilst the younger generation appears to embrace them. The youth desire freedom more than anything else. They do not want anything to obstruct their thinking, and when old people obstruct their aspirations and ideas, there is a collision between the two, which widens the generation gap and frustrates both the young and the old.
Technological advancements widen the gap between younger and older generations, as younger generations adapt quickly and view older generations as outdated, and lacking education and morals.
Today’s youth live in the future, with plans, dreams, and aspirations, while old people linger in the past and recall their previous experiences. The generation gap has reached its highest point in globalization and liberalization, youth are labelled as immoral, unsanitary, messy, and troublemakers, and elders are labelled as conservative, old-fashioned, and unadventurous. But do we think our youths and elders deserve this jargon to have?
Young people have identified some key challenges that they are facing today. Education and employment, mental health difficulties, peer pressure, body image anxiety, and future uncertainty are some of the challenges that today’s new generation is facing. To compete with the rest of the world and prove themselves as the greatest, young people have to run extremely fast. Whereas the old generation can never cope with the speed of the young generation. Being in such a crucial stage of life elderly people face a variety of health and societal issues. Seniors face issues such as weak mobility, death of loved ones, health challenges, withdrawal from social and working life, lack of understanding, non-acceptance of harsh reality, increased aggression, and mood swings.
Every generation faces its challenges, and it can be difficult for older generations to relate to and comprehend the issues that concern today’s young adults and soon-to-be adults. A generation gap exists between generations, but we can reduce this gap when older people teach younger and vice versa. Education is a two-way street, elders can teach hard times, loyalty, morals, experience, independence, and appreciating even small moments, and alternatively, younger people can teach new technologies, diversity, open-mindedness, risk-taking, and how to fulfil their dreams to the older generation.
As the old proverb states, “You live and You learn.” Seniors possess a wealth of knowledge, which the young generation must admire and treasure whereas younger people can teach seniors open-mindedness, new technologies, and appreciating not-so-important events because the knowledge can be shared both ways between persons of various generations.
