Tuesday, July 22, 2008

My generation

It's funny how often I hear people complain about "this" generation. As in MY generation. The current group of people looking to get married or are married; the young employees and college students. I find it funny how they almost always tend to criticize the generation. Use terms like "picky, spoiled, know-it-all, anti-social, lazy" or whatever else they can come up with.

Well, the other day I was exhibiting this "anti-social" behavior they speak of, and I found a quote which perfectly examplifies the "know-it-all" status given to us, here it is:

"Those who criticize our generation forget who raised it"

That's right. That's right. You criticizers really have no one to blame but yourself. :-D

The pickiness that causes the shidduch crisis? ---> The parent/educators fault.
The spoiled brats that cause the parnasa crisis? ---> The parent/educators fault.
The know-it-all's that make the rude remarks to authority? ---> The parent/educators fault.
The anti-socialness that causes the shidduch crisis ? ----> The parent/educators fault.
The laziness that promotes the Kollel Crisis? ----> The parent/educators fault.


So next time you have to blame someone for your problems, blame the generation that raised this one. :)

19 comments:

Originally From Brooklyn said...

I really can't blame the generation that raised me. I'm just too perfect and I do know it all. All that knowledge did come from them in some sort of roundabout manner. What do I want to blame anyone for?
And hey, this generation is no different than last generation. It's just 20 years in the future and a new hairstyle.

frumskeptic said...

lol. I agree with you. Our generations are the same except for the 20 yrs apart thing. Its just so annoying when they blame us for everything. Its like "shut up you idiots, you raised us"

you know?

frum single female said...

i agree with you frum skeptic. i also think that the more things change, the more they stay the same, people just forget how it was when they were younger.there is nothing new under the sun.
ten years ago they were bemoaning the shidduch crisis and here we are.....

Jessica said...

While we may have been able to use that excuse when we were kids, we can't blame our parents and teachers for how we turned out anymore. We are adults and in control of our own lives. If what they say about us is true (and I'm not saying it is or isn't) then we only have ourselves to blame.

Ookamikun said...

Peer pressure. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Jessica - I don't agree with you. When people complain about a generation as a whole than it is them (if they are older) who should be blame as a whole generation.

For example baby boomers were all abour rebelion and stuff like that, eventually they settled down and raised children, but when their children rebeled they were surprised. Why surprise? Didn't you speak with pride about your own rebelion? Your children heard you and followed your suit.

David Staum said...

Use terms like "picky, spoiled, know-it-all, anti-social, lazy" or whatever else they can come up with.

Funny - my generation (I'm 38) was described the same way. I remeber all those articles coming out in the late 80's and early 90's saying "What's wrong with generation X?" and describing us as lazy, selfish, etc...

Jessica said...

mlevin - Like I said, we're adults now. We need to take responsibility for our own actions. If we decide to rebel we can't blame it on our parents for putting the idea into our head. We have a choice to either rebel or not rebel no matter how we were raised.

Anonymous said...

These people keep trying to put us down. Is it just because we get around?

Ookamikun said...

Why don't you all fade away.

Anonymous said...

Jessica - you are confusing individuals with a whole. Let's take Gypsies for example. Each one individually has a choice to steal or not to steal, but as a whole they are known for stealing because Gypsies are raised that way.

Same goes for a generation. Although each person individually has made a choice (and there are many exceptions) as a whole there is a certain behaivor which was encouraged/instilled by their parents.

Jessica said...

mlevin - Isn't the whole made up of individuals? That gypsies and stealing thing has nothing to do with how they were raised... it's just a stereotype.

Anonymous said...

Jessica - gypsies are thiefs. They teach their children how to pick pockets at a very young age. It's part of their lifestyle. May be in America it isn't so, but in Europe Gypsies are into petty crime, entertaiment, begging and fortune telling. Basically their livelyhood is about separating passer bys from their money. A very large percentage of European prisons filled with Gypsies.

As I said, yes, there are exceptions, but as a whole Gypsies acquired reputation.

Jessica said...

mlevin - guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. I'm not a fan of repeating the same thing over and over again.

Ookamikun said...

Well, you never actually lived with them, we have. MLevin knows what she's talking about. It wasn't about them being raised in an environment, it was about their parents raising them like that.
And in Brooklyn, they dress up as Jews and collect tzedaka. If you know any Romanian, come over to one of them and say "how you doing gypsy?" and see her run. A guy from my shul did that.

Jessica said...

moshe - I still fail to see how being apparently raised a certain way makes it ok to blame the people who raised you. If a gypsy gets caught stealing they can't get out of it by saying, "But I was raised to steal, so I can't be punished for my actions." The same with being lazy. Just because your parents supposedly brought you up to be lazy, it doesn't mean that you'll pass your classes if you don't do your homework. "But I was raised to be lazy." Well, too bad. Other people who were raised by the former generation actually turned in their homework and were able to graduate. Eventually you have to stop blaming your parents for your faults and just grow up.

Ookamikun said...

I think I got confused about what we were arguing about...
Anyway, the phrase is "Ce faci tiganca?"
"Che fachi" and I'm guessing "tziganka"

Jewish Side of Babysitter said...

ahh I love that quote! I'm going to add it to my list of quotes.

Anonymous said...

Jessica - the premis of this post is that an older generation is occusing a younger generation for variety of improper habbits/behaivors. Well, if they are a previous generation, then they are the ones who raised this younger generation. If they don't like what they are seeing then they only have themselves to blame. On the other hand, the younger generation sees nothing wrong with its own behaivor. The younger generation is complaining about the older generation's complaining.