(Emad Barsoum writes: The Clash of Generations (2
It was unlikely to receive, from the young generation, responses and feedback on the previous article about the differences and struggle between generations. However, and regardless of the slight positive responses versus enormous negativity, it carried for me much delight to see such interaction and concern to participate in the dialogue.
What dominated the young generation ideas is the sense of conceit that was clear in their tone of voice, which drove me to discuss the matter deeply with a young lady and young man, to discover more about their fashion of thinking.
The young lady expressed her power in acquiring knowledge because of the extensive use of the internet, claiming that older generations do not have the ability to use these tools, however I mentioned some facts which was a surprise to her, that the older generations spent longer hours going through books in libraries, reading all publications and listening to the radio to obtain knowledge. They listened attentively to their teachers and their elders with life experience, thus their acquired knowledge was stronger and more reliable, simply because it was not an easy come easy go matter.
On the other hand, and although, the internet carries massive amount of information, and it is the greatest invention connecting people together, educating them, and delivering all sort of knowledge and news, it is still unreliable and gives out misleading information. In addition, social media opens the doors for huge volume of false information and experiences, because it always represent the opinion of its writer only, and those who provide opinions are most likely unqualified to offer any idea or thought.
While the young lady was left puzzled, trying to find a way to argue, since the young generation does not believe in loosing any debate to the older, I turned to the young man and asked him what he thinks about the clash of generations, and impulsively with a fuming voice he answered, your generation does not understand us! You always tend to advise and show us that we know nothing, and you know everything, although we know a lot and we have significant experience.
I smiled in a way to calm him down and said, that was our mistake too when we were young. We thought the same way, but that does tell you one thing, we are the same, no differences, it is only a stage in a person’s life journey.
The one thing I want you to know my son is that we are patient with you to show you our experience and knowledge, same as our elders were with us, but also, we leave you the right to choose your path, since we know that the best way to learn is the hard way.
We understand you, we only provide wisdom and experience, yet you choose how to use it. We have great hopes for you, since your generation is our future who will look after us and after those who will be your younger generation. It is a tough duty to be responsible for two different generations, the older and younger.
That is why I want you always to remember, that progress in life, economy, science, and society require both your energy, creativity, and enthusiasm, together with our experience and wisdom.
