Do you ever look at younger kids and wonder what the next generation will be like? What events will shape them, how they will leave their mark on society? I do.
When I moved back home for the summer, I saw my neighbors across the street playing with their kids. They moved to the neighborhood around the time I was in high school and they’re now about four and six. I took an interest in watching them because my brother and I are two years apart in age and I see them interact in much the same way my brother and I did once upon a time. The older brother has a tendency to pick on the younger brother, similar to my own brotherly bullying. When I saw them over winter break, the older brother was throwing snow at the younger one while the parents mediated—or at least they tried. My family laughs about these little events because we gain a retrospective look to a time when the family was young.
Now that I’m an adult, I like to look back at my own memories and, when I have the chance, look at what would be the next generation of kids growing up and wondering what they’ll become by the time they’re my age.
When I think of what events or milestones shaped this generation, I can point to 9/11 and the strides made by social media to play such a huge role in our lives. Looking back even farther, every generation has their moments and events that helped to shape them. WWII shaped the baby boomers, the Great Depression and the FDR presidency shaped the “Greatest Generation” and the proliferation of the Internet shaped the actual 90s kids. What will be the events or innovations that mold future generations? Will the advancement of technology continue to accelerate our lives or will it slow down forcing us to find some new innovation that moves us forward?
Maybe the little things that build each generation aren’t so different from one to the next. Maybe throwing snow or playing sports with a younger sibling is a time-honored tradition that provides pivotal experience in our development. I even find myself wondering what little things we’ll develop and pass on as a precedent for the next bunch of kids. I wonder if there will be a movement that gives meaning to us or some great obstacle that we have to work together to overcome. I possess no great clairvoyance, but I like to think that somehow we’ll work everything out.
In the meantime, I’ll stand content to watch my neighbors engage in the same activities my brother and I once did and give them a glimpse of what their future might become.
