Putting our yesterdays into perspective
December 10th 2010 08:03
I overheard a conversation this week in which a grandparent lamented the lack of motivation for today's young people to have multiple interests. The technological age, she believed, had created an enormous cultural change in our society, gluing young people to computer screens. As a result, they were less healthy and less engaged with the world around them.
This week I also attended a ballet school graduation ceremony. Before the ceremony we - the parents, friends and ballet stars of tomorrow - gathered in a foyer outside the auditorium, where we were entertained by some jazz music performed, on saxophone and piano, by two of the ballet students. The jazz piece they played and been composed by a third ballet student.
Today I saw a newspaper feature story about a Swedish indie rock group named Shout Out Louds. These five young men have released critically acclaimed albums, toured internationally and enjoyed considerable commercial success. Yet they regularly take time out from music to work in other areas: graphic design, pastry cooking, shoemaking and film-making were mentioned in the story.
Not everyone can be multi-talented, but I’m sure there are many more grounded and engaged young people than is generally supposed.
The youth of today, like many other cross-sections of society, can fall victim to media organisations which learnt long ago that news about norms and majority behaviour doesn’t sell.
In the case of young people, however, they are also victims of something else: an age-old, subjective attitude by their elders. I don't believe the youth of today are any more indolent than the youth of any other generation. But that doesn’t stop their parents, like their own parents before them, being critical.
Why do we have such trouble keeping our yesterdays in perspective?
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