The Generation Gap

 

By Binod Kumar Koiri

“The young are going to the dogs “is often heard comment when the above forties human beings discuss their progeny. The young are equally critical of their elders –those die-hards, killjoys, slow plodders who have brought this world into its dreadful conditions. Nothing the young do pleases the old-their dress, manners, speech, ideas and tastes all appear to deserve the most severe criticism. The older appear to the young as dull, rigid hypocritical and above all, totally unable to understand the youthful ideas and aspirations. The situation warrants a new saying-“young is young, old is old, and never the twins shall meet”.

There has always been clash between the old and the new, the result of which is the change. Our fathers were the heroes and revolutionaries of their times but are almost inevitably the villains and the conservatives of our own times. The young generation has fresh and young blood in its veins. The young generation feels that although it is “raring to go “the older generation holds the reins and doesn’t let them free. This stage of antagonism has been termed as “Generation Gap”.

Life is a process which moves ever onwards, and is conducive to change. The young generation is always restless to bring about a radical change in the existing shape of things. Youth believes in a whole set of new system and in establishing new order of things, and in doing away with the old systems and institutions, the conservatism and rigidity of the old generation. The young wants to break away from the taboos and limits present society and does not believe in the values and morality of the older generation. The older generation always tries to impose things and tries to have their own way which is very frustrating and irritating experience for the young. The often forget their youth and expect too much from the young, setting their own standards to be followed blindly by the youth. This leads to crisis. The old feel disappointed at the youths refusal to the respond and the young feel forsaken forlorn, and often defiant.

The young generation seems to have panacea to the world’s problems by erasing all that is old. The old generation of course takes offence at such an approach for they hold that their hair grew grey only with experiences. Old is gold for them. If this opposition has existed in the past, it is all the more pronounced and acute today. We are living in the time of speed and changes are taking places at breathless pace. The same phenomena must apply to our ideas and notions. If we do not move with time we shall lag far behind the others who are more progressive. Change is the essence of development and progress.

Every age and generation must be as free to act for itself in all cases as the ages and generations which preceded it. In our country the past looms large over the minds of young causing them to rebel. The social evils and outmoded social customs which are the bane of our society must be pruned. The rigid caste barriers and the inhuman treatments meted out to the so called lower class people; retain their monstrous existence as they are adhered by the older generation. In the name of orthodoxy, irrationality and superstitious find good breeding ground. The youth today finds such phenomena revolting. The wish to break away from the old rut  and propose their inter-regional, inter-religious, inter-caste marriages, social intercourse among all sections, and the emancipation of the weaker and downtrodden people in the society. The older generation gets scandalized by such an attitude and curses its offspring for their supposed sins and irresponsibility.

All the young people have a dream world in their minds based on ideals. The idealist in the youth seeks to clean the Augean stables and inject fresh blood and life into the world. The young crops of men require proper guidance, recognition of their talents and a proper channelization of their energies. How wonderful it would be if the old and young combine.

It is the tragedy of human life that change in human lives is usually the outcome of an inevitable clash and conflicts. And the generation gap will be there to trouble every generation.