McSherry’s Musings: Young people nowadays

In 1985, wayward American kid, Marty McFly found himself transported to 1955 courtesy of Doc Brown’s time-travelling De-Lorean automobile (Back to the Future).

He met none other than his own future mum (Lorraine Baines), then a cute and rebellious teenager who was partial to a drink and a smoke and had an eye for the boys. This was only the start of the shocks, as Lorraine was constantly nagged by her mother in the very same way that she was on Marty’s case in the ‘80s.

“Young people nowadays!” is a cry that has gone up from time and immemorial. Ephebiphobia!

Right back to the days of ancient Greek philosophers, and no doubt beyond, adults have complained about the behaviour of the young generation while harking back to their own youth like they were little altar boys and girls.

In the fourth century BC, Plato is attributed with saying, “What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents… their morals are decaying; what is to become of them?” while in similar vein, Socrates posited, “The children now love luxury, they have bad manners, contempt for authority, they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants….” He also suggested that children “tyrannize their teachers”.

Some things never change; now read on…

Forgive me for referring to social media, a bane of modern-day life, but last week I happened upon a discussion titled, ‘What existed when you were a child that doesn’t exist now?’

Among the plethora of responses, from the high moral ground, were suggestions that kids these days need slapped and have no manners bla bla… There was a lady of my own vintage, who replied, “Respect.”

I near choked on my cornflakes. In the 1970s, when a teen, she was as a cheeky a brat as God ever put breath in.

‘Ephebiphobia’ is recognized as a fear of adolescents brought about by the ‘inaccurate, exaggerated and sensational characterization of young people’.

It is rampant and generally pre-fixed with, ‘Young people nowadays…’

Let me tell you about our day!

At the end of first year, June ‘72 at the old Dungannon Academy, I watched on in amazement as senior boys pushed teachers’ cars the short distance to the football pitch which was basically a long sloped field.

The cars rolled down the field towards a wooden fence.

Soon after on the bus, I’m not sure where the driver was, I watched an older lad hit the coin dispenser and help himself to a fistful of silver. Back in our day, indeed!

The greatest act of rebellion was earlier that semester. The principal sagart was on the war path and sending lads to the barber shop to get their hair cut.

One wonders who was lacking in respect.

Word was if the 16-year-olds with lovely flowing locks didn’t get the scissors, they would be barred from sitting O-level exams.

They marched up to Irish Street and two skinheads returned. It was the talk of the country. The boss man was appalled and they became heroes.

In first year in English Literature, we studied ‘The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner’ written in 1959 by Alan Stillitoe.

It was the story of a rebellious youth, Smith, who was sent to Ruxton Towers Borstal for robbing a bakery.

In those days of school subjugation, it was a strange choice for the curriculum, albeit an enlightened one.

Smith was a tremendous long distance runner and for Ruxton Towers to win a major cross-country race would be a huge public relations boost for the borstal administrators.

However, on the day of the race, after speeding ahead of the other runners, he stopped a few metres short of the finishing line and deliberately let the other runners pass him, thereby losing the race in a defiant gesture aimed against his Ruxton Towers administrators. Young people nowadays – eh?

There was another sagart, liberal with the cane and slipper across the buttocks of the first to third years.

After that, boys refused to take his slaps. His dream was to have the MacRory Cup in the school, thereby boosting his own ego.

How wonderful it would have been, in the tradition of Smith, to round the opposing keeper in the last play of the MacRory Cup final two points behind, smile over at red jowls in his collar and boot the ball wide of the open goal.

Lads pilfered from local shops, crouched behind cars on the street and shouted nicknames at teachers out shopping with their wives: ‘Tut-Tut!’ to the master with the stammer, ‘Barabas!’, ‘Rat!’, and they got up to all sorts of other mischief. The girls were no angels either.

George Orwell said, “Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.”

There have always been rascals or ‘unmannerly pups’ as we were oft-times called. It is a distortion to imagine all kids were pristine and subservient back in the day.

Young people these days are wonderful, generous and caring, sure haven’t I reared a few myself?!

Last weekend, teenage girls from Ógras Youth club baked Halloween apple tarts and brought them to local nursing homes and vulnerable people in the locality while 40 boys voluntary helped dismantle the haunted trail that hosted over 500 visitors.

The kids are OK!