You Kids Get off My Lawn! by Bea Tifton

I am in middle age. I’ve had to come to the realization that I’ve more years behind me than before me. But that’s okay. I have a good life and I plan to live for many more years and to treasure each year in the future. The other day I saw a meme asking what surprised people about getting older. I started thinking about that.

One thing about which I didn’t think when I was young is losing places that were a part of my growing up years. A few months ago I blogged about an antique mall that meant a great deal to me being torn down for eminent domain. But I’ve also seen many stores I grew up frequenting going bust. My grandmother spent her whole career as a Sears associate and my mother worked there when she was in school. We were a loyal Sears family. But we watched it go from a good, solid middle class department store to something rather sad. And we lost TG&Y dime stores, where Mom let us look at all the fabulous junk and even buy something with our allowance or get a piece of candy from her as a treat. Furr’s Cafeteria. Gone. We went to one after church every week for years because the manager was a friend of my father’s. I loved it because we got to choose our own food and even got dessert. That was a way of life that’s just--gone.

And cultural norms have changed. I’m not standing in my yard yelling, “You kids get off of my lawn!”  What I actually mean is, I’m just getting used to the two generations below me who, as a norm, don't have the same social conventions. Many don’t use please and thank you, don’t smile and say hello, etc. And now older people who were raised that way don’t do it, either. That’s the opposite of how that should be going. My neighbors don’t wave back. People don’t make eye contact. No one answers their doors. I found a lost dog the other day and the neighbors, who were just coming out when I was about to ring, directed me to the dog's home next door to them, but I couldn’t get his darn owners to answer. I could see them running past the window. Frustrating.

Now we have new grammar rules. Language is constantly evolving.

Words like “tacky” or “jerk” don’t seem to be used anymore. My students honestly didn’t know what I meant when I said something about the current news was tacky. And the loss of idioms with which I grew up. Or using imagery in writing. We’re losing a beauty to language. Luckily, there are exceptions, like the gifted young poet Amanda Gorman. I try to keep up with slang so I'll understand, but honestly some of it really annoys me. And don’t get me started about the lowering of standards with news reporters and grammatical errors.

I’m at the age where I can go two ways. I can be a person I call a dinosaur who doesn’t keep up with technology or social media, who grumbles constantly about “The Good Old Days” (whenever they were), and those annoying young people, or I can evolve. Change with the times. I choose to change. But I’ll still give a moment to remembering and I’m sure I’ll still shake my head occasionally or grieve in some small way. I’m only human, and I’m planning to be one of those old ladies who’s a force of nature. One must adapt as one ages, after all.

 

Photo Credits: Pexels.com
SHVETS Productions "An Elderly Woman in Pink Long Sleeve"
Wikimedia Commons: RodTV65
Pexels.com
Werner Pfennig "Television Reporter in Front of a Conference Room" 
RDNE Stock project "Woman in Black Hat Holding White Disposable Cup"