Older Generation

Yesterday after going to church, Junfer and I were invited to attend a surprise 50th Birthday party for one of our co-members in CFC. While we were waiting for the celebrant, Junfer and I were sitting at the end of the table close to the teens (sons and daughters of other couple friends also invited at the party) when one of them asked about Junfer’s mobile phone. I was just observing there discussion, not even having a remote intent of joining a discussion that is to tech savvy for my own liking, when one of the teen’s mobile phone rang to the tune of one of Linkin’park’s songs (title of the song eludes my memory). After the phone call ended Junfer commented “I like that song of the Linkin Park.” The reply of the teenager actually made me laugh, he said “Ah talaga kuya you know Linkin Park”. Moments later, Junfer turned to me grinning and asked, “Are we really that old for them to think that I don’t know Linkin Park?” That even made me laugh harder.

Funny as it really is to me, it also made me think. Are we in the process of becoming the older generation? Are we in the phase where the music that the teenagers listen to would sound Greek or more so annoying to us? Are we moving to the older, reprimanding click that the teenagers refer to as the age group that doesn’t understand them? Are we getting old?

In all fairness, I have known Linkin Park way back in college. I have listened to their songs and liked quite a few of them. Aside from that, I don’t recognize any new band that the younger people are listening to right now. I am also not sure if that is tantamount to the fact that I am getting older or is it just because I prefer to watch movies rather than listen to music. I also am not fond of hanging out at noisy bars to drink, but then again, even when I was in college or while I was working in Manila, I don’t frequent clubs or bars simply because I feel that’s not my kind of socializing. And as to reprimanding the teens, even when I was a teenager myself, I have observed that my age group is composed of tons of different personalities. There are those teenagers who have fun and act out their age appropriately and there are those teens that act so obnoxiously under the disguise of a teenager having raging hormones but in reality are teenagers who are lacking the guidance as to having good manners and proper conduct. I still feel the same way now. I still find some teens act better than others, like for instance this morning on my way to the office, a teenage boy was banging the metal trash bin in the bus every 10 minutes or so, (not even throwing anything in the bin, he just finds it amusing to bang the bin) and he was having a conversation with some girls sitting opposite him in a shout like manner and when his mobile phone rang, everyone could hear his conversation simply because he was shouting and he has put his phone on speaker mode. What’s the deal with that? I also can’t help but wonder if that question from the teenager to Junfer was triggered by the fact that we are friends with his parents thus making him think that we are of the same generation, in which case age wouldn’t have mattered at all but affiliations. I have just realized that the group of friends we have accumulated when we moved here belong to a much more mature age group than that of Junfer and I belong to. I think this has also influenced the outlook we project on their kids.

Maybe I shouldn’t be even thinking of moving on to the older generation because from what I have observed, teenagers of today, specially in this part of the world, are in so much hurry to grow up and if they maintain this pace, certainly they will catch up with our generation.

In the end, I think that music, personality, maturity and most other attributes are not dictated by age group or clicks. I may like a different genre of music or I may like to hang out with a particular group of people or I may find the behavior of some people not parallel to my liking but I believe that these are not influenced by how old they are but rather of what there persona are. I believe that quality, characteristics and interests of each person are not influenced by age group but rather a choice they make for these are impacted by one’s individuality.