interview essay

Kyle Mengwasser

Lauren Rice

Composition 105

17 October 2010

Everyone changes due to generation gaps, but some things stay the same.

Generation gap is a more modern term for the difference between generations, or the attitudes and the behaviors of the younger and the older generations. The inevitable progress of time and technologies makes the introduction of new ideas, new believes, and new values unavoidable. As a result this difference in the general outlook at life causes the difference of opinions and social values, in addition to the difference mannerism and behavior between young people and older people within the family as well as within society. Even with this “gap,” there are still things that are passed down to us that stay the same.

 Perhaps, the gap generation that exists now between the younger and older generation can best be indicated by the difference of ideas between the young people and the older people in the family.

The main thing that has surpassed this gap, in my family, is the tradition of hunting. My dad’s name is Kevin and he was born in 1959. His dad, “the old man,” passed hunting down to him and he received the know-how from his father. Yes, there are many differences in how we hunt, but overall the gap hasn’t affected it.

 The technological advances play a great rule in enlarging the gap as the younger generations are quicker to accept and adopt these technologies so that they consider the conservative and technologically suspicious elders of their families very old fashioned in their, tastes, opinions and out looks toward life. On the other hand, the older people despise the modern values which they call the" internet" and "globalization" values. They consider the young generation shallow, lacking knowledge and moral depth. The young people of today get their knowledge from the "internet", and they hardly read other than light magazines, while the elders of their hard-earned, profound book based knowledge. The difference includes the moral and social values, as the different generations see notions such as marriage, love, happiness, and decency from different perspectives. Within the family circle that leads to much arguments and sometimes clashes between the young people and the elder family members, especially the grand parents.

My family’s tradition of hunting follows the generation gap idea, but at the same time, there are various ways of participating in this tradition that stay the same throughout. My dad says, “There are many types of hunting, but only one real type of hunter. The true hunter is respectful of others and of their property. He has great respect for his prey, and will never, ever shoot when he doesn't reasonably expect to kill cleanly.” My grandpa passed this, “rule,” down to my father, who passed it to my brothers and me.

Within the social context, the young generations' behavior in general is looked upon by disdain by the older generations. It is natural that every age has its own social codes which include the manner of dressing, of behavior, and of farming relationships with others.

“Hunters, by nature, are not outspoken. When we're among our own, we may offer our opinions and advice, but as a whole, we keep to ourselves. In today's political climate, that is counterproductive. Now, more than ever, many of the most powerful officials are working steadily at taking away our rights. We deeply feel that we want to be left alone, and we'll leave everyone else alone.”

Moreover, the elder generations hold fast to tradition and old customs, which they consider as part of their cultural heritage or social values. Younger generations, however, prefer to adopt modern values, and as a result they create their own ways of behavior. In other words, the younger people behave according to the current universal manners which tend to treat the elders in a comradely way, and to consider the old notions of respecting the elders, of being restrained  in their presence as rigid and old fashioned. Further more, the younger generations always revolt against the traditional rules concerning the choice of friends, spouses, and against the close family relations where the siblings are of one heart, and where they all remain under the guidance and control of the parents. Nowadays, individuality prevails and the elders have lost their power over the younger members of the family.

It is a fact of life that the generation gap or "clash" is something that has existed and will continue to exist as long as man exists on this earth, but as with anything, there are exceptions. It is not restricted to certain parts of the world, to certain times of human history or to certain cultures. That is why this "clash" is a fact of a life accepted by all generations, all over the world and through all time. Fortunately the "clashes" are not serious, and different generations continue to love and endear each other though most of the time they do not see "eye to eye."