Mark and I took a talking-hike yesterday.
We were discussing the generation (half generation) of kids that still feel entitled to spring break, frat parties, sharing drink bottles etc.
He said he thought the rationing that took place for years, during WWII taught our grandparents the value of things and how to cope better. Then our parents heard the stories... Then it was a history lesson for us and has since become so far removed, that personal experience is not something most of us can draw from to cope with hardship.
I disagreed. Yes the war was a prolonged period of rationing and limitations to life. But about every 10 years, I think we (humans) experience something that could ask us to exercise that area of our brain/psyche. Something that changes our normal way of life, forces us to reduce our consumption, face hardship head-on etc.
Immigrants and refugees to this day, go through hardships and change their normal way of life, in the hope of coming through stronger and better off... even if only in the next generation.
People all over the world and the USA have poverty stricken lives that mean they struggle with getting a good breakfast before going to work, school or taking care of others.
Natural disasters like fires, floods, hurricanes happen and people lose electricity, clean water, homes and family members in an instant.
All over the country and globe, grief from divorce, miscarriage, death affect humans that are poor and wealthy, diverse in ethnicity and religion, without discrimination.
10+ years ago families lost incomes, homes, cars, vacations, new clothes and the option to consume almost anything in the same way, when the recession hit them close to home.
20+ years ago 9/11 rocked a city, state, country and the world. The fallout kept hurting people. The trauma touched people for years... even those nowhere near the epicenter.
Some people will remember living through the oil crisis, other wars, the less recent stock market meltdowns of the 70's, 80's and more.
Our "coping muscles" have not been well exercised when we have not experienced hardship for a while. But they are still there and lucky for us, we just need to warm them back up again. It hurts for a day or two!
The people that have not lived through something/anything like this either weren't alive 10 years ago or were being (understandably) protected from these fears and hardships by parents. Do they have "coping muscles"? Barely.
The kids that have transitioned from being protected to not being protected as much are the spring-break aged kids - late teens and 20-somethings. This is probably their first foray into adulthood with stress, hardship, forced limitations and dangers that they are being asked to personally navigate and mitigate. They have no experience to draw from, think they know more than they do and their frontal lobes (judgement centers) may not be fully developed yet. The cherry on the cake? They have this "invincible" mindset - that we all had at that age!
It's easy to judge them. And blame them, maybe rightly so, for their part in continuing to spread a virus that is much more detrimental to us than themselves.
It's harder to see life from their point of view.
This week, my goal is to try and be more gentle and less judgmental.
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