A classic reaction as the mind ossifies. “Young people are different and it’s scary!” Today’s youth are no more destined to doom than any generation was in its early decades. Evolution ratchets upward. Sure, kids face numerous struggles that we didn’t, but the majority will make it through these crises and grow up to have their turn at shaping humanity. Technology has wrought a world in which the exchange of knowledge and experience, interconnectedness across great distances, and the collective empathy have all reached unprecedented levels. Of course the young ones are confused. They were raised by parents (my generation) who witnessed the dawn of this new age and many had no idea themselves how to react. But we figured it out. Our own predecessors (the Belmonts’ generation) had their own world-altering experiences and reacted by creating a culture of pragmatic stoicism that practically shunned emotional expression and the interchange of information at all but the most casual levels. But a few never stop adapting. They are seen as ahead of their time, and are frequently hailed as luminaries who guide the course of later generations. Meanwhile everyone else gradually bemoans the apparent acceleration of change around them, unaware that it is THEY who are decelerating. Those in positions of power drag their heels in the face of opportunities to move forward, making excuse after excuse for doing things the way they’ve “always” been done but forgetting that many of those conventions scarcely precede their own lives. The griping and resistance are ended only with the silence of the grave. And to paraphrase Max Planck’s words about science, the world advances one funeral at a time. The Belmonts have shown themselves to be nice people who lived rich, meaningful lives, but luminaries they are not. When Mr. Belmont’s cries of “how long, oh Lord?” are finally answered, their departure from this mortal coil will advance our world just a little bit more.
A classic reaction as the mind ossifies. “Young people are different and it’s scary!” Today’s youth are no more destined to doom than any generation was in its early decades. Evolution ratchets upward. Sure, kids face numerous struggles that we didn’t, but the majority will make it through these crises and grow up to have their turn at shaping humanity. Technology has wrought a world in which the exchange of knowledge and experience, interconnectedness across great distances, and the collective empathy have all reached unprecedented levels. Of course the young ones are confused. They were raised by parents (my generation) who witnessed the dawn of this new age and many had no idea themselves how to react. But we figured it out. Our own predecessors (the Belmonts’ generation) had their own world-altering experiences and reacted by creating a culture of pragmatic stoicism that practically shunned emotional expression and the interchange of information at all but the most casual levels. But a few never stop adapting. They are seen as ahead of their time, and are frequently hailed as luminaries who guide the course of later generations. Meanwhile everyone else gradually bemoans the apparent acceleration of change around them, unaware that it is THEY who are decelerating. Those in positions of power drag their heels in the face of opportunities to move forward, making excuse after excuse for doing things the way they’ve “always” been done but forgetting that many of those conventions scarcely precede their own lives. The griping and resistance are ended only with the silence of the grave. And to paraphrase Max Planck’s words about science, the world advances one funeral at a time. The Belmonts have shown themselves to be nice people who lived rich, meaningful lives, but luminaries they are not. When Mr. Belmont’s cries of “how long, oh Lord?” are finally answered, their departure from this mortal coil will advance our world just a little bit more.