Today's Perspective is a direct response to Wester Wuori's "The REAL Greatest Generation," which aired Nov. 14.
Baby boomers. Gen X. Millennials. Gen Z. On we go, naming time periods that we can shuffle people into to try to stereotype them. I was born at the end of the baby boom, but I usually feel like I have more in common with the generations that followed mine. Maybe you were born in this millennium but feel more kinship to older folks. Is it really the best use of our time to look at different generations with an eye toward shaming, blaming or judging?
Comparing generations is a false equivalent in any case, because kids today face immeasurably greater and different challenges than kids in the 50s or 60s did. We had no internet. No cell phones. No social media constantly bombarding us with feelings of “not good enough.”
A complete lack of supervision once a kid left the house was absurdly reckless. Just because we’re still alive to marvel at it doesn’t make it great parenting.
Not wearing seatbelts was absurdly reckless. Anyone who thinks otherwise should read highway death statistics.
Playing sports that put the health and safety of your BRAIN at risk is absurdly reckless. Look at the brain functioning of ANY retired NFL player for confirmation of that fact.
Instead of judging the generations that come after us, we should look at the things they are doing well, or even doing better. Parenting today puts a much greater emphasis on emotional health than it ever has. That’s a good thing. Women today have developed the confidence to stand up for themselves in the face of sexual harassment like never before. That’s a good thing.
The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice, goodness, kindness, compassion, empathy. And that’s a good thing.
I’m Lynnly Buchanan, and that’s my perspective.
