A View from the Deck: Youth and Vitality Don't Always Win

The Ides of March have passed, and, unlike Julius Caesar, we have the fortune to be able to embrace the coming Spring.  

Despite the (unexpectedly) mild winter, several of my neighbors have only within the past few days emerged from their habitual annual hibernation. Some sported full beards that made it difficult to recognize them at first, while others had to have the sweat pants and bulky jackets they spent the entire season in surgically-removed. More than a few of us discovered that our pants no longer fit. I'm certain this is due to these items being put aside for the winter, forgotten, and has nothing to do with having put on any weight.  

Not surprisingly, to me at least, these first brave venturers into the outdoors are those of my generation; the 'upper middle-aged', or those of us that refuse to be labeled as 'old people.' They're already setting about getting their yards cleaned up and putting the plans they allowed to maturate over the winter into practice, many of them already dealing with dead plants, huge fallen limbs, and unsightly dead areas of the lawn, eagerly awaiting the post-Memorial Day tradition of new planting.  

But as I watch (and yes, participate myself), I find myself asking "Where are the young?" Where are these vibrant, active 'go-getters' that rush past us on the highways, or state that their youth gives them the ability to succeed whereas despite our vast experience, they believe us to be archaic? Where are they? Where are the '30-somethings' and their vibrancy now? They're waiting, many of them with the attitude of "I'll do it later."  

As 'older' Americans (notice I did not say 'old') we know that things taken care of when the opportunity arises allows us more time for other activities. Having grown up in a time where we were taught that it was best to go ahead and deal with a situation, it gives us more time for leisure or other projects. It's the way we are, and despite our tired muscles or arthritic joints, we still like to get an early start on the things that have to be done.  

The young, on the other hand, have the outlook that things will either 'take care of themselves' or that it can be put off until a better opportunity presents itself. This attitude of procrastination is not a new phenomena among our youth, but it has grown disturbingly over the past few years. Combine that with the privileges that we, their parents, bestowed on them, and we now have an entire generation that is content to sit back and either wait for the 'right time', or feel that someone will do it for them.  

Of course, not all of the younger generation is this way. I see a couple on my street, twenty-somethings, that are already removing the brush that obscured their view of the woods in their backyard, each of them out there beside friends that came by to help brandishing chainsaws, rakes, and wheelbarrows. And a few insightful young people brought along additional help in the form of children, the kids laughing as they eagerly load the trimmed branches into the back of a neighbor's pickup. When you're that age, you make your own fun.  

The majority of the youth of America, that is to say those 35 and under, despite their varied economic status, have led a fairly-privileged life. We, that 'forgotten generation', bestowed on them all of the attention and nurture we were capable of. And while that is what any good decent parent should do, we erred greatly when we continued to shelter them from the harsh truths that we learned as children; that not all things come to those who are content to wait.   

And there lies the disturbing truth. We are responsible for their perceived 'laziness' and 'immaturity'. We forbade them to ride their bikes without helmets and enough padding to make an NFL linebacker jealous. We covered their expenses for video games in order to give them what they wanted, not realizing that they would isolate themselves from reality and indulge in nothing but escapism. Kids heal quickly and take in all they see and experience as truth from a very young age. The things that we expose them to help to define their personalities and outlooks for the remainder of their lives. 

Every parent wants their child to have it better than they did, to not have to struggle. But we went too far. We were the ones that sold them a bill of goods, saying that they would never get anywhere in life without a college degree. And now, in some cases years later, we are still paying off those student loans, while they struggle to find work within their chosen majors. It's disheartening to have a young person with a Masters in Business to ask if you want fries or onion rings.

But we steered them away from trades and technical schools, opting for the high end of education, going into additional debt, and grudgingly coming to the realization that not everyone needs higher education in order to have a worthwhile career.  

And yet, these young 'overeducated underachievers', when entering the job market, tout their 'youth and vitalty', great things to have, to be certain. But in today's job market, employers, all too often, are leaning more toward 'experience and dedication.' And guess who it is that possesses these attributes? Yes, us, the 'forgotten generation.'  

So, as I sit here watching my neighbors scurry about, getting their yards cleaned up and wood gathered for the street's first bonfire, I feel a pang of guilt, knowing that those youth that are content to sit idly in their domiciles, awaiting a better, more convenient time, are doing so because I, my generation, taught them that way.  

"Give a man a fish, and he will have one meal. Teach a man to fish, and he can always feed his family." Maybe it's well past time for us to heed these words, for if we don't, America's youth will soon find itself incapable of ever becoming independent, and guess who will have to continue to care for them?  

So, parents, the next time your child's room needs cleaning, rather than doing it yourself, just to get it done and over with, make them do it.  

They'll end up all the better for it.