The elder generation is too firmly put in their belief that whatever they have experienced and the understanding they have of the world is so much more vast than that of the younger generation. While i do not contend that this, in fact, might hold true. I am strongly against the assumption that this holds true for everyone.
It is true that through sheer number of years, the elders have an edge over us newcomers in this existence, but to believe that they always know best is laughable and archaic in the extreme. This is not a new concept by any means, its actually verifiable to be a question as old as the question of diamonds or pearls, amply illustrated by the 1950s motion pictures in which the line "Aaj kal ke bachche" was immortalised and held up as a classic representation of parental disapproval continuing onto today's much more colourful world.
The world is getting older in its thinking at a much younger age, while it was unimaginable for any girl to even think the idea of applying kajal before reaching the hallowed middle school years. Now we see flavoured lip glosses, featuring the new favourite cartoon hero/heroine especially made for tender (not so anymore!) junior middle kids.
The generation gap will never go out of fashion, it is after all a classic disease that has withstood the test of time even better than terminal cancer. But all i would like to hear from my generation would be the promise to hear the future. To actually listen to them and understand the fact that the world is not getting any younger, its in fact getting more open and more liberated everyday. We are free today to dress and behave the way we did while we were in our 20s when we are in our 40s. It would be a sad sad way to thank the future mortals by suppressing them for a major portion of their lives, simply due to the egotistic thinking that 'because i'm older i know best'
Its time the world understands that The Gap is not bridged by tolerance or by pretence of acceptance or even acceptance without a deeper understanding.
To bridge The Gap we need to listen, listen truly to the concern and anxiety of the times. Listen and then make them know whether understand or not.
