Look around and reach out

Decades ago, I used to listen to some raunchy groups - DKs, DM, et al.  These were never my "all time favorite" bands but they had some songs that appealed to my raucous, uninformed youth.  Most were nonsensical, crude, derogatory and just plain noisy.  Nowadays, they don't appeal to me except in a nostalgia for days gone by and a hope to fix things that I broke way back then.

More recently, the songs of my favorite bands/musicians tell me stories of real love, hope, and reverie - for the most part anyway.  Then there are those that appeal solely to my sense of humor and fun.  In any case, the lyrics are most important to me because I want to know what the artist is trying to convey.  (As an aside, they are not all slower than the songs of my youth.  The "old bear" still rocks out...)

The reason I bring up this change in tastes is twofold: as a reminder to my peers and elders that we are not now as we once were & as a caution to my younger friends that you still have changes to undergo.  Too often, the schisms in our world occur because experience forgets it own youth and the idealism it sought to bring to the world.  Then that aloofness is coupled with the impatience of the young to walk and talk with the wise, hopefully learning from them.

Generalizations about older people being wise and young people being impatient are just that - generalizations.  I know plenty on both sides that are exceptions to that rule, myself included.  Age does not necessarily bring wisdom and some youth are possessive of far greater virtue than their elders.

But if our communities don't communicate with each other (note the common root), discuss our history and work for a better tomorrow, the only thing that will change is that the divide will widen.  The cycle of mistrust and misunderstanding will continue until something drastic happens.

Bridging the gap in any relationship requires us to risk rejection, invest some time and persist in the reaching.  God only knows what improvements we can channel if we will listen and live beyond ourselves.