What is generation gap? Is it something alarming or merely a phrase? It certainly does not indicate just an age gap between the younger and older generations. The term implies a breaking down of understanding and communication between the two groups. It sometimes leads onto mutual hostility.
Young people need to identify themselves with their parents and when they are deprived of the possibility of communication they spend their time seeking ways to tranquillise their feelings of confusion. Hence the so-called "generation gap" occurs.
Generation gap has always existed. It is nothing new. The gap has existed from times immemorial. There has always been a difference of opinion between the older and younger generation. If it had not been so, society would have been static. In my opinion generation gap is a good thing. It is good because it means progress. It stimulates youth to create for them a vital and more meaningful way of life. The generation gap generates, new and independent thought processes.
Today we live in a period of the fastest change the world has ever known. We are facing a tremendous cultural and scientific change. The younger generation is torn between the age old patterns of their elders and their ability to adopt them to exhausting and breathe taking pace of this 20th century. Often, the youth of today have held the generation gaps as an excuse for much of their crime and immortality. They have used it as powerful lever for their unjustified behaviour and delinquency such as drug addiction, drinking, shop lifting etc
We have to admit that it is the older generation that has given the youth of today the society they live in. In their struggle for their children's prosperous future they work at night also. In some cases, both parents work, leaving their young ones without attention and affection. Of course, they provide their children with the necessities of life and even more, they support the children financially but not emotionally. Food, clothing and shelter are not all that the youth of today require.
Man, today is becoming brutal to nature. In this due course of time he has torn out the grass, uprooted the trees and turned the beautiful countryside of Wordsworth's dream into gas stations, snack bars and super markets. Parents have provided their youth of today so much time at their disposal that it would be unfair to blame them for their undesirable activities.
Last, but not the least, comes the vital question of how to bridge this gap? The days of youth are the glorious days of one's life. However this period is a brief one. The young do not have the experience of life. They need affection, attention, respect and guidance from their elders. However the traffic must not be one way. Youth in return must also be considerate. Finally if both the older and younger generations play their parts honestly we would have found a bridge to the 'Generation Gap'.
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