I am listening to the radio now and hearing this hooha about the youth being disrespectful to the older generation.  Oh come on, relax…there’s really no need to kick a fuss out of this.  This shouldn’t come as a surprise.  I’ve said it before.  Many of the young people today are insolent brats with a huge attitude. 

They haven’t seen the struggles of the older generation, let alone experienced a crisis.  They don’t really know who is Minister Mentor and what he has done for us.  These are not relevant for them.  To them, they only care about “What’s in it for me?”  

Perhaps they were rude.  Perhaps they were ignorant.  Perhaps they didn’t know their place.  Perhaps they should have been more respectful to our Minister Mentor.  Exercised a better sense of propriety.  Be more prepared.  But for good or for bad, this is our new generation.  So don’t affix the same set of criteria to judge them.  

I come across these sort of brassy young people all the time.  And what do I do?  I laugh at them.  I brush them off.  I ignore them.  I tell them off.  I put them back in their place.  Anything except getting agitated because I don’t want to waste my energies and kill my cells. 

Take for example this 10-year old boy who was extremely rude in my workshop two days ago.  From patiently telling him to behave himself, I sternly told him off, and then subsequently ignored him totally as he continued being funny.  When I was distributing some goodies, he came forth.  I asked him for an apology before I would give him anything but he just shrugged off and walked away.  And I did the same.  Just shrugged off and continuing distributing to the others.

Granted, this isn’t a youth I’m talking about.  But some of them are no different. 

My point is: if we really really want to deal with the younger generation and share a thing or two with them, be prepared for their indifference and directness.  Don’t expect too much from them.  Especially not on the basis that we’re older and need respect.  Don’t even preach to them.  WE HAVE TO CHANGE OUR ATTITUDE AND BECOME MORE RELEVANT TO THEM AS WELL.  That means we need to build rapport, understand their world and speak their lingo.  It could mean treating them as equals and sparring with them.  And when they know you have much more to offer them, the respect will come naturally.

Actually I thought MM was very cool in the way he dealt with them.  He certainly didn’t seem at all agitated.  So I don’t know why the rest are kicking up such a furor.