What the Younger Generation Could Learn from Seniors

Fellow seniors, remember when we were “the younger generation?” Seldom did our parents do anything right in our eyes. We all had times when we were sure we knew it all. And before I knew it, my own children reached teen status, and aimed the eye rolling and behind-the back-snickers  at me. I don’t know about you, but I realize as I have aged that my teenage self did not know so much after all.  My parents, teachers and other adults in my life probably had it all together, and I didn’t appreciate them enough.

Our entire society tends to dismiss the value of older folks. Our media is to blame for part of this. Look at some popular television programs. Older people are often portrayed as silly or ridiculous. However, we do have value and knowledge beneficial to the younger generation, and it is more than our free babysitting. Our rich perspective on history is unique and worth sharing because many school systems are no longer teaching history as it actually occurred. Some want to get rid of any knowledge of certain aspects of slavery and its impact on this country. Other factions are teaching that the Holocaust is fiction and never happened.  Our generation lived through many events considered taboo in schools today, and we know what actually happened. It is up to us to share our knowledge with those who have no other way of learning it.

Many of us experienced terrible wars that the younger generation may read about only in history books. There are still seniors alive who served and lived through World War II.  One of my friends in his 90’s told me about his service in the Coast Guard during the War and how his ship was a day out of Pearl Harbor when the Japanese bombed the Harbor. He and his shipmates stood and watched the empty Japanese bombers flying overhead on their return to Japan after they wreaked havoc and killed so many Americans. Listening to his stories and feeling the pain and horrors of war as he told them brings the past alive in ways that history books can never accomplish. It is our duty to share these stories with our children and grandchildren.

As a teenager and young adult, I lived the fear and emotional stress of the Cold War. My generation lived every day, not knowing if it would be our last. Following WW II, military tension existed between “Western” countries (United States and NATO allies) and the Soviet Union and a few countries referred to as the Eastern Bloc.  The atmosphere in all these countries created an environment of fear that one of the super powers would push that “red button” and start World War III. We lived that stress daily and it affected every aspect of our lives. We can teach young people about that period in time and how it affected the adults we became.  They cannot imagine hiding under a small school desk as practice for when the ‘bomb’ fell.  They never saw the bomb shelters terrified Americans built and buried in their yards, in hopes their families might survive.

I lost a friend  in Vietnam. A few other friends made it home from that war. People at home treated our returning soldiers horribly, and the media made them into criminals when they returned. Many of those who served were drafted.  They didn’t have a choice, yet they were treated like murderers and ridiculed in the press. Certain movie stars visited Hanoi and consorted with the enemy. The pain our military, both men and women, endured during and following that war live on in my generation. Today’s younger generation needs to understand the people of that time and what it was like for those young men and women who returned to a society that looked down on them and had no conception of the horrors they endured during their military service.

There are survivors of the Holocaust who have unique stories to share. Most of them are horror stories but they should be told, passed down to younger generations.  We of a certain age possess a better understanding of liberty and the value of living in a free society than do many younger people.  It is urgent that we pass along to children and grandchildren how important Old Glory flying free and the many freedoms we enjoy are and how quickly they might be lost.

Many of us remember well the first space flight and the first walk in space. You can watch all the movies you wish, but nothing compares with watching television broadcasting the voices of the astronauts as they lived those experiences. We can share that with the younger generation. While I did not watch a manned space flight live, my family did watch a couple of unmanned flights lift off at a special invitation-only event. You really do have to see it to believe it! Again, we seniors are full of stories and information that need to be shared with those who care to learn.

I believe that seniors have a better understanding of the term, “respect,” and why it is important. I’m not sure that enough younger people do. Teens and adults who use illegal drugs show a decided lack of respect for themselves and their own health. Many weren’t taught to treat others with respect and it shows when tired, older people must stand when all seats are filled with laughing young people. It shows when teens pick fights with teachers and make no effort to behave in class. These young people could learn a lot from older people who have lived and learned through many years of life.

History isn’t all that seniors could share with younger people, but it’s important. We seniors know life from a different perspective than does the younger generation, and we can offer young people  – grandchildren or not – knowledge of a way of life that wasn’t the same as they now see.