I want to applaud you. Thanks for standing up to us, because we need it. Your courage is commendable. We need to be humbled once in a while, and our pride seems to get in the way. We know most of you are doing some great things. There are bad seeds in every generation, including ours, but the good seeds in yours are blooming some amazing fruit, and I want you to know that we see it and most of us know that one day we will need that fruit. I hope that you will gently remind us that one day you will be our teachers, doctors, leaders, and more, and we would be wise to nourish your journey. Don’t let me scare you, but someday you’ll be us, and when that day comes, I want you to be kind—kinder than we’ve been to you. You probably don’t believe it now, but someday you too will become set in your ways, and when those flying cars whiz by you’ll scream about how you had to use a gas pedal back in your day. I hope you’ll remember that the kids driving those flying cars will be finding their way the same way you are finding yours now.
Teenagers – you’re not “all that.” You’re not all that we’ve been screaming in your faces or blasting in blog posts. You’re not some experiment gone wrong. You’re not fools.
You’re us and we’re you. I know, you just cringed, but it’s true. We may not be the same but we all face obstacles and struggles along the way. We all have to figure out our path and find our slot in life. We all screw up and stumble, we just do it differently. We all have a spark that wants to make a change. We’re standing where our grandparents once stood and one day you’ll stand where we stand. We were you and you’ll be us, and we’d all be better people if we figured out a way to understand each other, help each other, support each other, and work together to help each other grow. We’re counting on you. So go do big things. Change the world. Make us all better people. Prove us old people wrong.
Cheering you along,
The Old People
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This article originally appeared at candicecurry.com.
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