Kids These Days

I recently had the occasion to do business with a carpet salesman, a nice enough man named "Wes." As we navigated the way-too-many options for floor coverings in his showroom, we engaged in some idle chatter, each of us with our own agenda. Surely, Wes was trying to compliment me enough to be able to score a sale, and I was trying to be charming enough to get a deal. Such is the way business is conducted these days. But it's all very civil. At some point in the conversation, I revealed that I'd been a high school English teacher for thirty years. That was all it took for Wes to offer commentary on the younger generation. "Kids these days," he stated, "have no manners. When I was a kid, we said, 'Yes, Ma'am,' and 'No, Sir,' and we were respectful. Kids today don't do that. They're lazy and disrespectful." I think Wes was offering a backhanded compliment on the fact that I survived among teenagers for three decades, but he could not hide his hostility on what he perceived was a degenerate and unappreciative group of people.

Not wanting to have to kill the sale, I tried to educate Wes in a non-threatening way. I suggested that there are always going to be some bad apples in any generation, but my experience had shown me that despite their hormones and insecurities and impatience, most young people are smart and compassionate and good. Wes' reaction made it clear that he was not interested in continuing this line of conversation. We returned to talking about flooring.

A few days earlier, I'd gotten myself into a Facebook exchange with someone I'd known in high school, despite my resolve not to engage. This person, like Wes, wanted to trash young people for a perceived lack of manners or industry or common sense. I found this somewhat humorous, as my memory called up any number of "bad boys" that shared the same classrooms with the man with whom I was arguing. These were the James Dean Wannabes who ruled before the hippie movement threatened their popularity. How were they any different than today's "bad boys" (and girls)?

David Hogg. Cameron Kasky. Sawyer Garrity. Andrea Pena. Emma Gonzalez. Alfonso Calderon. If you do not recognize those names, let me offer another: Marjory Stoneman Douglas. I am beyond impressed and excited about the intelligence, persistence, and passion of these young co-founders of NeverAgainMSD, the activist group of teenagers who are trying to make a difference by demanding common-sense gun control. Unless you've been living under a rock, you know what these kids are up to . . . and the impression they are making. My daughter, who taught 9th grade English in a Coral Springs charter school two years ago, knows a few of the MSD kids, including Sawyer and Alfonso. She shared her concern about them with me recently: "What if they drop out of high school now?" My reaction would have surprised me in earlier years, before we had mass killings in schools. But I have no doubt that these kids are doing something bigger than high school and that they need to see it through. For the first time since November 8, 2016, I feel encouraged, excited, and optimistic. These kids are going to make a difference. A big difference.

College campuses in the late 60s and early 70s made a difference. Without their anti-war protest, we might not have witnessed the end of the Vietnam conflict. Women's Liberation might have taken much longer. And racism might still be a part of our culture. (Okay, that last one was wishful thinking.) Yes, I was part of the generation who stated that we hoped to die before we got old . . . and 30 was the age we thought was old. I'm pretty grateful that we rethought that one.

Without the threat of a military draft, college campuses have downsized their political activism. So it is only fitting that high school students have picked up the slack. The students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School have followed the wisdom of the woman for whom the school was named. This environmentalist, journalist, and social activist (who lived to be 108!) had this to say in 1980:

Speak up. Learn to talk clearly and forcefully in public. Speak simply and not too long at a time, without over-emotion, always from sound preparation and knowledge. Be a nuisance where it counts, but don't be a bore at any time . . . Do your part to inform and stimulate the public to join your action . . . Be depressed, discouraged, and disappointed at failure and the disheartening effects of ignorance, greed, corruption, and bad politics -- but never give up.

Never give up, kids. We're counting on you.