Have a question for anyone over the age of 55 years old?

Question

We hardly hear your point of view.
And I was wondering what you think of the world and all that's going on in it.
Is there any advice you can give us as a younger generation?
What have you learned about yourself and the world as a whole?
Do you think we have the ability to get beyond all our differences?
What do you see in us that we have yet to see in ourselves?
What do you think will make the younger generation aware that listening to some of your wisdom can be a good thing... so we can stop making the same mistakes over and again?

Answer 1

Good Idea Gurl

Answer 2

You mean you have MANY questions.
To worry about the state of the world is too much for any one individual.
Care about things you can have a positive influence over in your immediate area.
The more people who do this will make it collectively a better world to live in.
What I see in young people is inexperience.
Any excess committed at a young age will exact a price when the hormones rapidly diminish after middle age.
You will hear what you want to hear.
I think the world is improving constantly.
It is becoming a better world, ever so slowly.
Education is the key.
The more knowledge there is the more spiritual and reflective we can become.
I would like to come back in 200 years to see what your and following generations have done to the place.
I think I will be pleasantly surprised judging by your questions.

Answer 3

Short answer.
Quite a question since most of the world's problems have been & are caused by the older generation.
The younger generation inherited the mess the world is in & are the ones who must make positive change.
Myself?
I do not take myself too seriously. I know the difference between wants & needs. I do not leap to conclusions.I know what people to avoid. I never intentionally hurt anyone.
Your generation?
Fantastic potential. Live up to it.
Greater awareness of the world.
Ever hear " Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it"
Keep asking questions .
You will make a difference.
You're on the right track.

Answer 4

Have a decade to go, hope that doesn't disqualify me. But have been around for quite a while.

I pray to the Gods for this world and am pro-active in my politics, women's rights and humanitarian efforts.

For the younger generation, have fun, but look to the future.

I have learned never to stop learning and to keep myself open to new ideas.

We do have the ability to get beyond differences, but we have to learn first to respect the differences that will never change.

I see the passion of youth, pre-occupation with the things of youth. Most will get past it and find their niche in the world. It's their choice as to what limb their feet will fit.

Haven't a clue, just know that adults and elders make a serious mistake when they give up on young people. And would hope that our youth will slow down once in a while and consider some of the deeper issues of life . You might not make some of the mistakes your elders made, perhaps if you listen you will avoid making them. You are free to make your own, hopefully you will learn from them, too.

Answer 5

How kind of you to ask!! Just by asking, you've shown that you are someone who cares and has a bright future ahead of them. Thank you.

What do I think of the world and what's going on? I see the same old mistakes being repeated time and time again and wonder where we're going as a society and where the human race is headed. Just to use an example, the country is embroiled in what appears to be a never-ending war in Iraq. My generation had VietNam and it all but tore the country apart. As I read some of the comments posted on here, I see that a lot of people are worried because we have a rather inept leader who seems to be more concerned about his own glory than leading the country. This is not good. Didn't he - and he's from my generation - learn anything?

On the other hand, there are young people like yourself - and I have no idea how old you are although I'd guess somewhere in your late teens - who do seem to care. You are the country's brightest hope.

It saddens me to see so many young people throwing their lives away - unwed mothers at 19 on welfare with 4 children for example - when they could have really accomplished something with their lives. But, the idea that you have to have kids right away and that if you are 17 and still a virgin means you have something wrong with you has become so ingrained in our popular culture that we wind up with situations such as this.

Another thing that disturbs me is that so many of today's youth have no idea where they're going and what they want to do with their lives. My generation was the same and I think we turned out ok. Yours will as well. There's one difference though. In my generation, to show signs of rebelliousness, we grew our hair long and marched in a protest march. Today I see far too many young people with so many piercings and tattoos that they could never make it through a metal detector. If you want to get pierced and tattooed, it's your body, but ask yourself, who's going to hire a person with teardrops tattooed on their face, artwork all over their body and studs sticking out all over the place? I suppose if the height of your ambition is to work in a used record store or collect garbage, you've got it made. So before you make the step of essentially mutiliating yourself - ask yourself, what do I want out of life?

There is so much potential out there - I see it every day, and then I listen to what passes for music these days and worry about what the values are that are being passed on. C'mon, how can you call somebody going on about killing someone, using every profanity known to man and urging everyone to do it whenever be called music? And each generation had its music which set the tone for what we became - don't let anyone tell you otherwise. We were the rock and roll generation and I guess the current one must be the rap generation - judging from what I hear, if that's what inspires the young people of today, the world is in bigger trouble than anyone could imagine.

We've come a long way socially over the years from the first civil rights marches in the 1960's to the world of today where when you see a racially-mixed couple no one thinks all that much about it. That's a step in the right direction. We need to look further however, and that's going to be the job of your generation since there is another minority group out there that is taking a lot of heat right now.

The group I'm talking about is the Gay community. I'm not Gay, but I have friends who are and it doesn't bother me in the least. If they want to hold hands and show affection toward one another - fine by me. However, as a society this country is still largely intolerant of those who are different. Case in point - Gay marriage. Personally, I don't care one way or the other if they're allowed to get married since the Gay couples I know are more devoted to one another than are many heterosexual couples. So, let's compromise - there should be nothing wrong with a civil union so that the partner can share in such things as insurance and death benefits etc.

I lay the blame for a lot of this at the doorstep of the so-called Christian Right who, because of their intolerant attitude toward others who are different, are neither Christian, nor are they right. Is there anything wrong with accepting others who are different as people just like you and I? What ever happened to love one another?

You asked what can you do so we stop making the same mistakes over and over again - learn from the past, but don't stay rooted in it. Practice tolerance of others. Be more concerned with helping others. Don't be so materialistic and have the attitude that once you get out of school, you won't accept a job that starts at less than $50,000 a year. Continue your education - go to college, obtain at least a Master's Degree because you'll need it in order to be successful, but don't expect to start out as a CEO. Expect to start in the mailroom and work your way up.
Use your brain, that's what its there for. Don't be afraid to try new things to see if they'll work. And above all - and I know this sounds trite - love one another - care for others.

The world isn't careening full-tilt towards disaster - yet. And as long as there are those like yourself who are willing to listen to what we old hippies and protesters from the '60's have to say, it won't. You are the future. You are the hope for tomorrow. Please, make the best of it and learn from our mistakes just as we hopefully learned from the mistakes of our parents generation.