If you didn't notice, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) did us the service of re-counting the number of years that separate the young from the old. It's just 13 years - go figure. Referencing the Oxford English Dictionary of 1899, the word "neophilia" first appeared for the young who love novelty. But in 1886, the word "neophobia" first appeared for the old fear of the new. May I ask, then, that you not think of a fuddy-duddy like me as "Pops", but by the more scholarly determination - "Bro".
As your older sibling, relatively speaking, I'd remind you neophiliacs that age and cunning will always prevail over youthful impetuosity. You babes in your mothers' arms have no place taking up arms for the fatherland. "Shock and awe" soon becomes a battle of life and limb. Admittedly, the guy who reeks mayhem is amusing, unless you are the teen-aged fatalities in the car.
Empathy is all that can be asked of the young, but solidarity and healing come from sympathy and compassion.
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America is a young nation by the standard of world civilizations. My travel experience tells me that most of us don't know what it is to live without H/AC service at our disposal. We haven't a clue that the majority of people on this planet use outhouses, sleep by the warmth of human bodies and cook over a fire. In Rome, the American tourists complained of no AC and the showers without curtains. In Paris, there were complaints of no ice cubes in drinks. In Germany, you were expected to dine with strangers when the few two and four tops were taken.
Oh, America - green corn in the ear, but resistant everywhere else. We have no idea, without recent Public TV and trendy fashion, how valuable antiques and vintage workmanship is compared to machine-made "goods". If it wasn't for the economic backlash, we would have no concern for the dire conditions in Europe - kind of how we are with grandparents "losing it" and needing a nursing home.
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The young play rough with life because of fear that tenderness will be seen as weakness. Like our Nordish ancestors, we are overwhelmed by old age as an enemy that we can't conquer.
It's not scripted for us to go gently into the still night.
Maybe 13 is a lucky number after all. Maybe the Fountain of Youth will yet be found. And maybe, just maybe, I've coined a new Germanic-based word that will make "new city metrics" the rage for future generations - say thirteen years from now.
