It happened this afternoon. I was with three under 24 year olds — 1 under 20 — and I realized how impressed I was with the things they were saying, the awareness they had (of themselves and the world around them) and the absolute utter difference I perceived between their relationship to the world around them at their age and my own relationship to the world around me when I was their age.
A series of things went through my mind about how this sort of thing probably happens with all generations as they meet the one that follows them; that I didn’t want to be how I perceived the generation before me; that I had a choice in that moment to either could enjoy it and appreciate the way they were teaching me and helping me grow or I could do what I perceive my elders did and fight it.
I was grateful when I opened into loving the process of allowing the next generation to teach me and help me expand my horizons. I think, perhaps, when I stop doing that will be the day that I really grow old.
So, thank you to all of you who I can truly (and lovingly) label, “those kids today.” You inspire me.
