The generation gap is one of the reasons of the difference between the youth and the older generation. The world has changed a lot since the time when our grandfathers our grandfather’s grandfather was born. Maybe around 100 years passed. The India, as we know was under the British rule when our grandfathers were born. They saw the bloodshed in the battles. They may have taken part in the movements and most of them would have gone to prisons as well. They also grew up gave birth to their children and who turn experienced the life in the little more changed world than earlier and they gave birth to us. And we have just started our journey on this earth.
So, no doubt that our fathers, grandfathers and our grandfather’s grandfather are much much more experienced than us. They have the wisdom of life more than us. But the thing is, they always try to stop us doing new things. Many of them force us to complete their dreams which they were not able to fulfill due to the non-availability of resources to them or maybe due to the scenario at that point of time which may have become the greatest barrier between them and their dreams.
The older generation, or we can say the more experienced generation sees even the present world like the world they have lived, in their past. Many unwanted and wrong rituals took place in those times but were abolished with the changing tide of time. Our elders too had to change a little with that change caused. Since those hundred years, when our grandfather’s grandfather were born, a lot changes has took place and it must have been surely difficult for our elders to change with the changing time and environment. Even though, they have changed so much, it is impossible for a normal human to forget all those thoughts and time in which they have lived their life. They see the present world much like the world they had already seen in their younger days, full of bloodshed, competitions, crimes, cheaters, corruption and much more things. These things still persist but the way has completely changed. Our elders have a sense of overprotectiveness for us, so that we don’t get through the troubles which they have faced in their days. They stop us from doing some things just because they have a feeling of love and care for us.
But the youth takes it the wrong way and instead of understanding their elders, they just overlook them and walk on their path without anyone’s support. And that is it. Their family is lost. The youth wants to live like a free bird without much interference. They want to explore new things in this world and always want to go deeper into their interested area, which is more often not supported by many of the elders or parents. The youth too want to experience which their previous generations had experienced. The youth want to have the adventurous life, instead of having the plain, simple life. They want to fulfill dreams which they have seen. They want to understand different people on their own by living amongst them. They want to understand the whole world. They want to be shown the way by their elders but to be left free, to choose their own path. They want to explore the world and their ways on their own.
The main thing that lacks in this generation gap is the ‘UNDERSTANDING’ between the elders and the youth. What the elders may think is wrong; the present generation may think it as the right path which will take them to their goal. The most common example nowadays is the Marriage. An arranged marriage is mostly preferred by the previous generations while the younger generations like to go for the Love marriages. Also, some rituals may be considered holy by the older generation but may not be of much importance for the younger generation. The older generation alone should not understand the younger generation or the vice versa, but the both the older and the younger generations should understand each other to provide a stability in this generation gap. Both should also understand each other’s feelings to be happy and successful.
The more experienced generation should pass on all the knowledge they have gained from there life to the next generation and let that generation decide on how to use that knowledge.
In this changing world of ours, only one thing is constant and that is CHANGE.
The only thing that leads to this generation gap is the way of thinking and seeing the world around us. Understanding will reduce the generation gap to a much extent.
