I had quite a crazy day today. Between paramedics and making old women cry, there wasn’t a dull moment!
As I approach my upcoming 20th birthday (April 8th- send gifts), I find myself in a weird place. I could practically burst into Britney Spears songs, that’s the place I am, between girl and “woman?” Woman is a weird word for me. So, let’s not use it. I am forever a girl. Don’t you forget.
So, today, I went off at my break to go chow down on something with more fat than something really really fat (i.e. my thighs), and what am I greeted with? A man, bleeding, on the sidewalk, paramedics, store managers and whom I assume to be his wife crowded near by. Squeemish type that I am, my first instinct is to throw up. My second is to run around screaming. I am shocked to see this man’s wife doing neither of those things, but rather calmly standing, speaking with a lady near by, watching the scene as if nothing was going on.
I hear talk of a “generation gap.” They’ve always existed. It’s merely where culture and society separates our elders from the younger gen. Was this the gap, before my very eyes? This sense of calm, pressed closely to the seemingly never-ending chaos of my world? I pondered this as I sat down with my oh so fattening breakfast a few minutes later. I am deep in thought, when I here a voice from another table:
“Oh, what was her name? The one with the two kids? She’s crazy? She’s a teeny popstar?”
I realize with a jolt that they are talking about Britney Spears. How could they not know who she is? Their conversation continued on as they struggled to gossip about other celebrities, never quite coming up with the proper name, although I am able to identify the subject upon the first comment made. Generation gap? Most definitely.
Still pondering these things, as I do, I return to work. I am putting away juice, when an older lady comes up to me. I guess her age to be around 80, and this is confirmed as our conversation progresses. And, boy, does it progress. It seems as if she has a thought about everything, and she’s going to tell me each one. She tells me about how angry she is that none of our juice comes from Canada (”We have perfectly good orchards here, and it’s all from those bastard Americans.”), and when I show her a juice that is from Canada, she looks at it, sees “Quebec,” and is off about separatists! I say, “I lived in Quebec for a few months, and it was lovely. I never met any-” “NO! SOVEREIGNISTS! ALL OF THEM!! DON’T TRY AND TELL ME OTHERWISE!” She talks about her son-in-law (”that asshole”) and her daughter’s knee-injury. About her grandson, who has special needs was hit by a truck at some point. It’s not long before I know practically her whole life story. Some things she says are funny, and keep us in stitches. Some confuse me, and I smile along, not entirely sure what to say. For example, she was terrified of the high schoolers who filtered into the store for their lunch break. She makes snide remarks about their hair, and clothes, but refuses to go near them on her own. I remind her that I am only two years older than them, and she replies with “Oh, but you’re a nice girl.” Okay! I am pleased with her views involving the Conservatives (”shit heads.”) and war (“Let’s send Harper and all those other bastards over there and see how they like it!”). These comments intrigue me, and I feel the generation gap shift a bit.
We are in a full-blown conversation about war and political states when I make my fatal mistake. She tells me, “cherish democracy, because you never know when it will go away…” and I continue, excitedly, Social Studies nerd that I am, with, “Yes! I mean, we have to be careful with fear, I’m sure Germany never—” But I am cut off. I am cut off as she burst into tears, sobbing ever so desperately, and yells “DON’T YOU SAY A WORD TO ME ABOUT GERMANY! THEY KILLED MY BROTHER!!”
I stand there and, as anyone in my position would do, feel awkward. I don’t know what to say, but luckily, she continues on, and says “Some people say “forgive and forget.” NO. I will not forgive those bastards that killed my brother. I will not forget.” Like nothing happened, she returns to pondering her shopping basket, and decides that she probably has everything she needs. Unable to carry the basket, she kicks it along and after a few steps, I snap out of it, and pick it up for her, to take to the cashier. She says good-bye to me, “It’s been a pleasure.” And I check the clock to see that over an hour has passed since she first started exclaiming over the lack of Canadian juice.
I’m still not sure about the generation gap. Has everything I learned today lessened it? In a way, I feel even more disconnected from this lady, even though I now know a large chunk of her life story. What do you think?
Of course, the weirdness couldn’t end there. My iPod just HAD to blast “Generation,” by Simple Plan the second I stepped out of work!
I’m sick of all this waiting
And people telling me what I should be
What if I’m not so crazy
Maybe you’re the one that’s wrong, not me
So what you gonna do, what you gonna say
When we’re standing on top and do it our way
You say we got no future
You’re living in the past
So listen up, that’s my generation
I’ve always been with adults, ever since I was very young. Sometimes I feel more comfortable talking to those who are middle-aged+ because I rather know how to handle them more. But, I think, in some areas you can see that there is a generation gap — when I talk to my grandmother about immigration or racism it becomes most apparent.
Re you be squeamish — never fear, I’d have been exactly the same.
My parents only know about Britney Spears because I used to like her when she debuted. But I highly doubt they know the ins and outs of her current life.
Heh old ladies are always like that. At least she didn’t try to talk to you about religion. I had one talk to me about it because we saw a scantily clad (and I use this term in a very loose sense) girl… and she went on and on about how God doesn’t want her to expose her body like that yadda yadda. I tried reasoning with “well if she feel comfortable”, and they said “oh no, they’re tempting the guys”. I was just O_O at that…
I was just thinking about this whole generation gap thingie the other day… but I was thinking about it from the other angle.
I was thinking how I didnt even notice the change.. but I was walking down the street yesterday watchign some kids who looked.. oh, 17? 18? and i found myself thinking i was never that rude and weird and then i stopped myself and realized..
oh god. i’m 25 and i’m now in that older generation that doesnt get young people anymore.
*head in hands*
I know the feeling. I had a lady come into my work (bookstore) who asked me for book suggestions. I asked her what books she liked and it seemed to be on the same page as me. So I recommended to her a lot of my favorite books, while considering what someone more her age would like as well. Ex. Out of my favorite authors books, picking the ones that have subjects she could relate to instead of my favorites. She seemed really excited and I was too.
A week or so later, she comes back to return all of them, going on about how I’m young and have no experience with the world and that she should take my opinions with a grain of salt that the books were boring and didn’t capture her attention. She asked how old I was. I told her 20. She said “see, I have 41 years on you. 41 years of experience.” She was basically insinuating that I know nothing and (stereotyping that) just because I am young, I know nothing. I felt like saying that No, age doesn’t determine experience. It determines CHANCES of having experiences but someone my age could have just as many life-altering experiences as someone her age and not to judge me on age. Of course, I couldn’t say that because the idiotic customers are always right. *deep breath*
But yeah. At least yours called you a nice girl unlike my customer (”that asshole”). Hee.
My goal in life is that when I’m 61, I remember myself at this age and know that not all 20 year olds are stupid, mindless, inexperienced idiots. Because they’re not. And I hate when people assume that.