Kids These Days

“She farted.”

And maybe she had.

This statement in simple juvenile brilliance was uttered by a child of maybe ten years old about 11,000 feet above sea level as he and sister slowly sailed past me in a ski lift in northern Arizona.

I don’t have kids-not because of the threat of flatulence, but for other reasons that I won’t go into here.

Responding on short notice, “Oh you two are in lift #24? I heard that was the one that broke last season. Only one of the kids inside survived.”

The young boy’s stupid grin wilted as he floated by me. I let my laughter echo down the mountain, though mostly for effect.

Ask anyone from the older generation (just don’t ask me what constitutes ‘older’ generation), and they’ll be quick to tell you that the world is going to hell in a hand basket, largely due to the ineptitude displayed by kids these days.

Has every generation in history proclaimed their intellectual dominance, over their younger replacements? Maybe so, but is it true?

It’s certainly easy to read any website that is frequented by teens, or tweens and judge the fate of the planet by the mindless drivel that makes up their posts, rants and comments. No, I mean really easy. However, before we do that I’d be willing to bet that we all know some ‘adult’ on any social media site that behaves in a similar manner.

So what’s this mean? The younger generation isn’t dumbing down society because those that are older have already beat them to it? Yes, perhaps it is. But haven’t we all said or acted on the side of idiocy at least once in our lives (of course for some it is more of a phase, or repetitive exercise)?

To quote Jesus (loosely, i.e. not in a factual way, based on actual text), “The stupid will always be among you. That’s not a threat, that’s a promise.”

It just so happens that as technology has advanced, these people with no filter and even less brain power have simply gotten a forum by which to spout their ridiculousness (says the guy that has a blog- but also a sense of humor).

The real question becomes not, is the newest generation on point to destroy what their elders have built, but rather: Can the new generation make the distinction of how and where they demonstrate this folly?

And where does the ski lift kid land in all this discussion? Silly comment to a total stranger, or humorous smart aleck? It remains to be seen. Though let’s not forget he did have the foresight to make the comment out of my reach, and that of his parents…