The Generation Gap

There was a time when the government

drafted millions of young men

to invade Southeast Asia,

and inflict unimaginable horrors to the people of that region.

People viewed those horrors

every night on the television.

Then, the people realized that the government

didn’t have a good reason for carrying out these horrors.

Millions marched in demonstrations.

Those demonstrations and the tenacity

of the Vietnamese people

forced the United States out of that region.

In those days, the unions had improved the standard of living

by organizing thousands of workers to go on strike.

Working people could then own a home, a car,

and send their children to college.

Black people organized to force the government

to outlaw Jim Crow segregation,

and for the first time,

Black people had some citizenship rights in this country.

But employers were driven to drive down their costs.

They didn’t invest in improving people’s lives.

No, they made massive investments to build factories

where workers received $1 or $10 per day.

As a result, millions of union jobs vanished.

Prominent people argued that the way to get “ahead”

was to get an education,

and millions went into debt to get that education.

Some people saw their living standards improve,

but the majority needed to work more hours

to have a more insecure living.

And this went on for decades.

Then, a new generation grew up

that knew how to do arithmetic.

They thought about paying back a student loan

throughout their lives and into their retirement.

They thought about $1,000 per month rents.

They thought about $200,000 row homes.

They thought about $400,000 starting prices for new homes.

And they thought that this just didn’t add up.

First they called themselves “Occupy.”

They said they represented the 99%.

Then, they argued that “Black Lives Matter,”

arguing that Black people deserve respect and not brutality.

Then, they protested the destruction of the environment,

and argued that people are more important than profits.

Some young people call themselves “socialists,”

and believe that poverty can be eliminated in the world.

Yes, a new generation is growing up.

They are tired of hearing the old excuses.

They are tired of hearing the myths they learned in school,

and they have the energy to create a new environment.

Clearly all of us understand that

we have a lot to learn when we are young.

But these young people are developing a new vision,

and everything is being questioned.

However, when they think about the future,

they also look to the past,

where I think they will discover how to make this world

a place where there is liberty and justice for all.