The kids are alright

I remember it like it happened yesterday, but actually it took place a little more than two years ago.

I was standing in my back yard, practically screaming into my cell phone and more than annoyed with the obnoxious punk on the other end of the line.

I’ll get more into the substance of that conversation in just a bit, but here’s the kicker: the young man I was arguing with was incredibly mature and polite, best evidenced by how he responded to my venting anger about his arrogance.

“Mr. Seaver, I simply disagree with you,” he said more than once during that 15-minute call.  He called me “Mr. Seaver,” a sign of respect offered by a much younger person. It was both jarring and nostalgic.

My parents insisted that we always refer to adults (even their close friends who frequently visited our home) as Mr. So and So or Mrs. Smith . . .

It’s been almost 40 years since I was in the fifth grade, but I still call my fifth-grade teacher Mr. Flaherty, despite the fact that he is a Facebook friend. I know many of my peers do the same. It’s how we were raised. You know, back in the good ol’ days.

The good ol’ days weren’t always so good

Lately, I have heard what appears to be an increasing amount of complaints about Generation Y, those born between 1982 and the early 2000’s.

Of course, the criticism reached a crescendo recently in reaction to the performance by Miley Cyrus at this year’s MTV awards show.

A few days later, a good friend shared a link on his Facebook page about Generation Y, pointing to a familiar narrative about what is supposedly the most self-absorbed, narcissistic and generally lazy generation of all time.

It occurs to me that sociology experts said a lot of the same things about the generations that preceded those Generation Y twerps, Gen X and the so-called Baby Boomers (those born in the years following World War II).

In fact, no one seems to enjoy writing about and analyzing the societal impacts of Baby Boomers quite so much as other Baby Boomers.

For disclosure, I was born at the tail end of the Baby Boomer generation; and I often wonder about the real differences between Baby Boomers, Gen X, Generation Y or even the group that Tom Brokaw so famously dubbed “The Greatest Generation.”

With all due respect to Mr. Brokaw and to those amazing people he wrote about, I think we too often view history through rose-colored glasses.

Tomorrow’s not as bad as it seems

Kids today could not survive in the world I grew up in. Kids today are so disrespectful. Parents no longer teach manners. Kids today are so lazy, self-absorbed, belligerent, spoiled, blah, blah, blah . . .

Sure, I have caught myself yelling at a teenager to “turn down that awful music!” And every time I see a boy with his blue jeans hanging on the bottom of his ass, I have to work really hard not to slap him up side the head.

Within five or ten years, there is absolutely no doubt that I will be screaming: “Hey, kid! Get off my lawn!”

But are kids today really worse than they were in the 1980s, the 1960s, the ’50s, during the Depression . . .?

It seem as if many of us are more than happy to be armchair sociologists. We extract an abundance of anecdotal evidence over time, recognize a trend and react with a combination of resentment, anger, nostalgia and a sense that the world is going to hell in a handbasket.

What we see scares the living shit out of us. These kids are about to inherit the reins. Some day, they will be running this country. We need to do something, and quick.

Not necessarily.

Exception to the rule?

Remember that young punk I was talking to a couple of years ago?  His name is Ryan Gavin, and he came to my house on Sunday to interview me for a radio show he produces in Bangor.

A little more than two years ago this young punk took out nomination papers to be the mayor of Biddeford. Other than serving as an appointed student representative on the school board, this punk had zero political experience. He never owned a company or worked to support a family. He was a college student who had yet to finish his educational career. How friggin’ arrogant can one person be? How could he possibly think he was ready to lead an entire city or oversee development of a mult-million dollar budget?

But I was annoyed because I was supporting another candidate. I knew the perils of what could happen in a three-way race. I wanted a two-way race: my guy versus the incumbent, a clear, easy and obvious choice for every voter, regardless of their affiliation. A third candidate, I reasoned, would only muddy the waters. This arrogant punk was about to rain on my parade.

Other volunteers on Alan Casavant’s campaign thought I was overreacting. They did not see this young punk as a threat. I knew they were wrong. Ryan Gavin was no ordinary kid. Eventually, he dropped out of the race and joined our team, heading up the campaign’s social media efforts.

When he came to my house, he was prepared for the interview. He had done his research. He asked tough questions, and caught me off guard more than once. Just the two of us in that room. One of us was a pro, but it was not me.

So here’s my own anecdotal observation. There are just as many Richie Cunninghams in the world today as there were in the 1950s. There are also just as many Fonzies, and Fonzie was actually (beneath the surface) a pretty good kid.

Ryan Gavin is much more Richie Cunningham than Fonzie. He was a stand-out student at Biddeford High School. He made older people feel comfortable. He is articulate, polite and wears his jeans on his hips. My wife served with him on the school board and often remarked about how we was always the most prepared, the most earnest of school board members.