Some of the Kids Today

A quick trip in the cool morning to Jacksons, a few OK shots, and pleasant conversation with friends. The entire time I was writing this post in the back of my head. It’s been one of those weeks. 🙂

Today is Ciaran’s first birthday and this month the older ones turn 10. Blink is thriving – I assume she was born some time in June. Mind you, she’s still holding a grudge. I don’t know when she’ll forgive me for the eye drops etc., but we’re making progress.

In general, although this house is pretty chaotic at times, the five “children” living here make life better. My dealings with actual young people are not always as, let’s say, positive.

My friend Ahuva and I have had a few conversations over the past year about the difficulties for the more experienced people in business being taken seriously by some in the younger generations. Apparently “experience” deserves condescension and dismissal. I’m glad I’m retired and don’t have to confront that problem daily.

Having said that, the issue does still arise and sometimes in the most offensive ways. An ad appeared recently on Facebook which was copied and shared on Twitter. This is for a physical wellness app which is very popular these days. Some of the coverage I found talked about the woman (she looks 17) who started it and how wonderful it was that it wasn’t a typical “guy-focused” piece of technology.

I don’t think I’m a “Karen”. I will vent on here occasionally (grin) but I don’t demand to speak to managers, or write Letters to the Editor ranting about the decline of civilization. I even manage to restrain myself from responding to 99% of the trolls on social media. This I took personally.

If you’re in your 20s you might have a mother in her 40s. Is this what she looks like? I’m in the top age group and there’s no way I can split wood with a cat in my arms. Also – that outfit would be totally inappropriate.

I sent them an email, told them they should be ashamed, and suggested they’d never seen a woman over the age of 18. I got a reply from the Customer Care Manager saying they would kill the ad.

Last evening I went down to pick up a friend at the Harbour. On the way home I approached the top of the hill coming out of the central portion of our little town. This is a pretty steep hill and when you are getting close you can’t see anything over the top of its rise. Most of us take that bit of the road too fast – we’re so used to knowing what’s on the other side.

Just as I was getting to it I saw what looked like the top of a head crossing the road just past the top of the down slope. I slowed right down and when I got over the hill found myself within inches of 4 kids returning (late) from their first day of school. They were laughing and having a wonderful time.

I came to a complete stop and they didn’t even acknowledge my presence.

Not only did they ignore (not realize?) I was there, they started wrestling and threw one of them into the middle of the road within inches of my front bumper.

Nothing pierced their consciousness until I leaned on the horn and screamed “idiots”. By this time two more cars were stopped behind me and, as they walked past my open window, I added “morons” for good measure. You just know they complained to each other about the crazy old lady in the car.

If I hadn’t caught a glimpse of that head I would have hit at least two of them and it would have been my fault. Assigning the blame would not, however, have given any comfort to their families. The good news is that everybody’s fine. I’ll slow down at that hill from now on and maybe get a louder horn. 🙂