Generational Differences... When the hell did I get so old?!?

Sooo... I started a new job this week. I have taken on the Century Club of Rochester (a women's club that has been around for literally 100 years) to sell as an event space, and to help build its membership. 

The first event I was involved with was a group of Syracuse University students, who used the house for the whole weekend for training exercises,  camaraderie, etc. A very nice group of people. 

I've always thought of myself as a younger person- I don't look my age and I certainly don't act like it. But this weekend among these students was the first time I actually FELT my age. Has anyone ever experienced this? Here I am, thinking I'm pretty caught up with the times, and I'm listening and watching one of the last activities of the night, which was a No-Talent Talent Show. These kids were amazing- dancing, singing... but it was their spoken word that really got me. They talked mostly about being misunderstood, saving the planet, being saddled with the problems my generation handed over to them... with language and terms I'd never heard of before. It's the same kind of stuff I remember talking about when I was their age... I think... but when I was 22 I had just moved to Europe and was concentrating more on having fun and seeing the world than trying to fix it. Maybe that's the problem. These kids (and I use that term loosely) seem a LOT more world weary than I ever did, even now. Yet they were treated with that ridiculous "No Child Left Behind" mentality- they weren't allowed to drive from Syracuse to Rochester because their powers that be felt they weren't responsible enough for their own personal accountability.

How did I become so separated from this? Is it because I don't have kids? Am I too swept up in my own little world to notice? What can I do to stay connected? I DON'T want to become one of those people who becomes bitter about the incoming generations because I just don't understand them. 

I actually feel bad for this generation. They came up through a system that taught them the minimum to understand, but nothing about life or the world or how to survive in it. They are in a digital age of instant gratifiication and zero privacy, encouraged to express themselves, but criticized for doing so. They are accused of having  a false sense of entitlement, but  are given awards and medals for just showing up, without learning the merits and rewards of hard work and dedication. I am thankful every day that the internet wasn't around when I was young- I never would have survived. I love my privacy (that sounds so hypocritical, considering I'm on facebook every day) but appreciate the digital age because it allows me to connect with the world.

As I was locking up after the event last night, I found the scrap paper used to scribble down some of the spoken word- an example:

what's worth fighting for?

sometimes

on a face

falls

all the inconsistencies

of a 

wavering wing.

Call it an expression

sometimes 

fists develop

instead

of progress

call it an alternative.

A passion does not boil into a generation

it is spoonfed

to those hungry

enough to ask

for spoons before they taste what is in them

it is not cold and unbalanced

like some diets

but it is a volcano, elephant in the room loud.

And nothing tame has ever

conquered its opposition.

whatever our fists develop into

whatever expressions fall on our face

whatever finds a way out of our throats

call be called enough to work towards.