Are younger people worse off than their parents? - Parting Thoughts

IN THE ETERNAL WAR OF YOUTH VS. AGE, the complaint commonly heard is that in today's world, children never will be as ell off as their patents. The deck supposedly is stacked against them, as they are the first generation to start going backward. The magazine Modern Maturity claims that "people over fifty have the highest level of wealth in the country." Not only that, but it is the seniors who get most of the discounts in taxes, movies, restaurants, and department stores.

Apparently, Generation X and its successors are afraid they may not get the Social Security checks their ciders receive and stash away in the bank. Moreover, many previously high-flying Yuppies have lost their high-paying jobs in the current recession and with the downturn in stocks, much of their pension savings as well. Many are desperately looking for work--any kind of work. As if to add insult to injury, a couple of years back, the newscaster Tom Brokaw wrote a best-seller entitled, The Greatest Generation (referring to seniors).

The seniors' response to their juniors' gripes is that the validity of their complaints have yet to be determined. As history reveals, future prognostications find that reality has a way of changing them. Then, too, criteria also have to be established in order to make any comparison. These should include ease of living, salaries, job security, and improvement in both the necessities and luxuries of life.

While not blaming our children, we seniors point out that we had the economic and psychological hardships of raising larger families. Nor did we split with our spouses as readily when some disagreement surfaced. We tried harder to reconcile our differences, understanding the value of compromise. Disputes might have involved child rearing, but they rarely were personal and acrimonious. Couples saw themselves as partners rather than competitors. They complimented and complemented each other and what was good for one was good for the other as well as for the test of the family. Our marriages lasted longer than those of today's generation. One suspects that Silver and Golden Wedding Anniversaries are going the way of the dodo bird. Divorces are so commonplace that one forgets how expensive they can be--specially with child support.

Back when today's seniors were younger, there were few His and Her automobiles. Then, too, modern technology has made living in the contemporary world a lot easier than four or five decades ago. Former back-breaking jobs currently are handled by machines. Also, in the past, we coped with cloth diapers, hand-folding them by the dozen. The Velcro fasteners that hold diapers secure didn't even exist, as we suffered countless safety pin pricks along the way. We still recall that when the lid to the diaper pail was lifted, the escaping ammonia fumes cleared one's sinuses for days on end. Today's diapers are throw-aways and unnecessarily overflow landfills. The younger set, so fond of claiming to be environmentalists, say nothing of this waste.

Senior mothers, now grandmothers, did not have the benefit of microwaves and high-tech kitchens, either. There usually was only one TV per household (a black and white one at that). VCRs were nonexistent, as were computer and video games. Today's more permissive generation finds it difficult to refuse their youngsters anything--regardless of the cost. Brand name clothing and footwear replace less expensive store brands.

Overall, there has been a radical change of attitude with the passing of years. For example, it almost is de rigueur for youngsters to go "away" to school, rather than attend a local community college the first two years out of high school. The latter often are just as good academically and they can save parents a bundle. The virtue of thrift seems to be an unknown to our younger generation. They pile up credit card debt as if there is no day of reckoning. Likewise, we had no money for sending our kids to camp, an increasingly popular way of getting youngsters out of the house--and out of their parents' hair!

Similarly, there were few daycare facilities. We didn't believe in shucking off parental responsibilities. We relied on reciprocity agreements with neighbors. Nor did we believe in raising latch-key children by mothers traipsing off to a semi-career, who then justified the behavior with the phony promise of "quality time"--as if this could make up for their absence. It used to be that mothers got their kids off to the school bus (when there was one) and were there when school was dismissed. Home was an anchor in a storm and not just a place for a kid to hang his cap. Children gratefully sensed this.

We have a volunteer Army, so the young need not fear getting drafted and losing a few years of their lives (or life itself) serving the country in conflicts such as World War II, the Korean War, or Vietnam. However, we took advantage of the GI Bill of Rights to better ourselves when we left the service. One might add this opened the door to higher education and professional skills for the masses--a revolution without parallel in our society. When we obtained a job, we expected in start at the bottom and work our way up--which we did! Loyalty and commitment proved to be hallmarks of our generation--to one's family, employer, church, and country.