While I was at training for the new job and spending time with my aunt and uncle, we'd naturally get to talking about anything and everything. There were some spirited political and religious debates, but mostly we talked about people. Good people, bad people, people we knew, people on TV... Just people. And I always find it interesting to get perspective from a different generation on the state of humanity.
We talked quite a bit about tolerance and acceptance. Now, just about anyone falls more on the conservative side of the fence than I do. So I don't think I need to explicitly state that I sound like a tree-hugging pinko commie liberal in comparison to (insert person here). That's rather akin to saying water is wet, bears wear pointy hats, and the Pope shits in the woods... er, you know what I mean. But I always expect to hear views that differ greatly from my own when conversing with folks roughly 50 and above. There's enough of a gap between myself at 27 and someone at 50 to say we grew up in different times. Different sensibilities, different social influences, all that. So color me surprised when I find we don't feel all that disparately.
I was talking one night about the level of ignorance and intolerance I see in my peers, and some of the really awful things I've heard them say, whether it be racism, sexism, homophobia, or anything else you can think of. Furthermore, I recounted events that have gone further than just words. And not in the "I heard it on the news" sense, but in the "I know someone this actually happened to" or "I saw this happen" sense. And they were actually a bit shocked to hear that this kind of behavior was still occurring in members of my generation. Question is... Am I?
Geographically speaking, I live in a relatively progressive region. We're slightly less diverse and have slightly more money than the average (note that I do not include myself in that "more money" category), but this is consistently a "blue state" (minus the republican governor). And I live on the border of one of the most liberal areas in the country. So, relatively speaking, I'm fairly certain things are better here than they might be elsewhere. I was able to see two of my female friends enter into a legal same-sex marriage here. And for a bunch of "rich" white folks, I see far less racism than would be expected. So, y'know... B+ for effort. Because we're not all the way there yet.
But what exists outside our front door is not what solely dictates our disposition on such things. At least not until we're able to fully get out there and experience it. I'm well aware of how little we, as human beings, want to take personal responsibility with regard to, well...anything. And I hate to harp on parenting and the impact that has on our society. But I'm harping. Kids these days (pass me my cane, would you, sonny?) are even more cruel than I recall them being when I was an adolescent. And they start earlier. So I have to be curious about what they're learning at home, or from TV or the internet...and why there's no one telling them it's not okay.
I suppose I'm getting away from the point a bit. And as an amateur historian/sociologist, I could go on forever about the sociocultural influences during a certain time period and how that translates with regard to our collective stance on a particular issue. But that's more of a thesis than a blog entry. I just find myself wondering what it is I see that so many others in my peer group don't. I didn't grow up surrounded by diversity, you won't catch me raving about the quality of my education, and I'd consider the people in close proximity during my formative years to be, on the whole, still a little ignorant. No, I wasn't brought to KKK meetings as a child or anything like that, or told the woman's place was in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant. But sheltered? Yes. And if I can be, y'know, how I am... What's everyone else's excuse?
Nothing surprises me anymore. Not that it ever really did. But the part-time idealist in me likes to think we're moving toward a more inclusive society - that we're learning we're all made from the same human goo and anything different beyond that isn't really important. But somewhere in our evolution, something went wrong. Almost...backward. Maybe it's just me getting older and shaking my head disapprovingly at the young whippersnappers or something. Maybe it's different because I didn't grow up in the "internet age" and it was easier to ignore this kind of stuff back then. But either way, it's unsettling.
I don't like having to apologize for my generation. And I probably shouldn't even feel obligated to do so. But I just think we're better than that. All of us.
No comments:
Post a Comment