“Kids these days”

By Hannah Vogt

I was sitting in Starbucks, and the older gentleman next to me started laughing to himself. I did what any curious listener would do and turned to look at him, expecting to see what was making him laugh. He noticed my glance and looked up from the newspaper sitting on his belly.

I thought maybe he was going to tell me that Family Circus had a funny line this week, or how Calvin and Hobbes always made him smile, but it was not a comic that made him laugh. He simply peered over his glasses, looked me in the eye, and said, “One of the presidential candidates just had an arrest warrant issued for them.” He proceeded to chuckle, I chuckled, and then we went back to what we were doing.

I’ve always had a particular annoyance with the mentality that “kids these days” are ruining America, mostly because it feels like an unfair generalization. After all, I think, I go to church, I’m a good student, and I try to care for the world and the people in it. Not all of us are bad.

But, I reevaluated this phrase because of the chuckling elderly man. I wonder if older generations are not specifically upset with the kids these days, but rather with society, and more specifically, what society allows.

Can we really blame him for laughing at the irony behind a presidential candidate having been issued an arrest warrant? Society has allowed our two main options for the next leader of our nation to be either one, a man who has made numerous racist and sexist comments and been forced to eat his words far too many times, or two, a woman who, if her health wasn’t a good enough reason to question her ability to run the country, has also been accused of misuse of power and carelessness at a monumental level.

But what’s my point? I could talk all day about what’s wrong with America and the world, but I have a feeling society isn’t completely ignorant to the darkness surrounding us. So, what do we do?

Expect more of yourself and those around you. When you mess up, own up to it. Be responsible, hard working and devoted to doing good, however that looks in your life. I cannot lie and say that it will always bring worldly benefits to those who adopt these ethics; it may in fact hurt sometimes. But, we have a God-given calling to be better than the low expectations society offers. So call on God, confront the darkness within and rise above what surrounds us. If we all would start doing so, maybe in 40 years we won’t be sitting in Starbucks, painfully laughing at the state of our nation.

Hannah Vogt is a senior at Oklahoma Christian University. 

The opinions of guest columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Talon or Oklahoma Christian University. Guest opinions are presented to foster public debate on important topics and comments should be respectful and signed.

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