Men give love to get sex. Women give sex to get love. Author: The smartest woman I know (my own mother). It’s a bit trite, but there’s a lot of truth to it, no? We bash the older generation as primitives, but the more I talk to them, the more they seem to understand the realities of race and gender that so many of us in the “progressive and liberated” generations that followed have obfuscated with censorious PC confusion, denial and nonsense straight into well meaning falsehood. Each generation creates its own set of ideological revolutionaries. Some of this is sheer rebellion, but a lot of it is just the spirit of the dialectic. Time honored wisdom is tossed out as old wives’ tales, and the New Science rewrites all laws and calls it progress. By the time we reach middle age, we realize with chagrin that the old fuddy-duddies were right more often than wrong. And on the cusp of that painful admission, we finally understand the nature of wisdom, as old and basic as man himself. The American Indians revere their elders (elderly). All over the world and all down through time, cultures have taught us that wisdom lies with the eldest generation, the living stores of wisdom. Since when in our ultra-technological, fission-busting, speed of sound breaking, just in time, up to the minute, metrosexual neon world village did that oldest of human maxims cease to be true?
Is this the fabled journey towards the right as you mature? Or maybe just that the younger generation is always a little more progressive? Personally, it can be quite painful to see a younger generation coming behind me with attitudes that I can’t identify with, and I’m only in my early thirties, so I can only imagine some of these feelings will get stronger as I get older and the youth become more incomprehensible. But, I guess this schism has always existed which adds some perspective, if not some comfort.
As for revering our elders, we elect them to political office which is kind of the same thing except on a grander scale.
Also, our elderly are older than any previous generation of old people. A century ago 50 or so was the average life expectancy, when a person would still have all their faculties intact. Now, people are living to near 80 often with a decline in their mental abilities. So, maybe we need to redefine the maxim to; Always revere the middle aged!
I am still a very progressive person, but I am not an idiot. I suppose most move to the Right as they age, but I am still a Leftist. But I am not the rebellious idiot I was as a young man. A lot of the “progressivism” of the young is honestly just “revolution for the Hell of it” if you ask me. The young need to rebel. It’s good in a way, because good things usually come out of it, and that’s how societies grow and mature through continuous self-reflection.
I agree that the middle aged should be revered!
I think there is truth to what your mum said. I’ve seen a bit of that.
Men definitely fall in love though and get strong feelings, sometimes pretty easily. They can be even soppier than girls.
A different viewpoint –
I’ve always been a conservative. I was a child in the 1980s.US-USSR relations were at a low point. We practised “duck-and-cover” drills in the classroom in anticipation of a potential thermonuclear war. During all of this one figure loomed larger than life to me: Ronald Reagan.
My parents were lifelong Democrats. I always asked why they didn’t like Reagan. Their only response was something along the lines of “he’s for the rich people”. But this just didn’t ring true to me from what I observed.
The 1980s were a boom time economically. Kids could get any number of jobs from paper routes to grocery store clerks to fast food. And in fact from the age of 12 I have always worked at least part time. I saw Ronald Reagan growing the economy, standing firm against the commies and demanding the Berlin Wall be torn down.
Was it rebellion against my parents? I can’t say for sure. I like to think not. But I have never wavered from conservative principles from childhood until this day.
Food for thought
Heh, define love. I like to think my wife enjoys sex as much as I do. Granted, I like to do it more! 🙂
And yes, respect for elders is very important.