What’s the Matter With Kids Today?
The 1960 movie “Bye, Bye Birdie” featured the song “What’s the Matter with Kids Today?” It was a cute number that captured the popular and timeless sentiment of the generation gap between parents and kids.
Now that summer has given way to fall and kids are back in school, I catch myself every now and then humming that tune and smiling.
Several years ago, I bought my home one block from Eureka High. At the time, my long-time friend Bill told me I was crazy for buying so near the school. “You’re gonna hate it,” Bill said. “All those (expletive) kids walking by your house all the time, making noise, trashing your yard. You just wait and see.”
Bill is a lifelong bachelor, never had kids, never wanted kids, and lately, to be quite honest, he has turned into a grumpy old curmudgeon. So I took what Bill said with a grain of salt and told him I didn’t think this would be a problem. I wasn’t concerned about it.
Five years later, I’m still not concerned about it and it’s still not a problem. In fact, I actually look forward to September when the kids come walking past my house mornings and afternoons, and at other times in between. I miss them during the summer when the neighborhood is almost too quiet.
What I have discovered is that these kids remind me of my own high school days, walking to and from school with my pals. When I hear these kids talking about “kid stuff,” it takes me back. I remember talking about the same “kid stuff” back then. And I say to myself, There’s nothing the matter with kids today. They’re no different from us when we were that age.
From my house I can see and hear them playing in the tennis courts during P.E. and their teachers have a boom box out there playing loud music for them.
Do you want to know what they’re listening to as they’re having fun out there? They’re listening to “our music,” classic rock from my youth. They’re getting a cultural education in the music of their grandparents and it warms my heart.
So as I see it, Bill, as The Who sang in a 1965 classic, “The Kids Are Alright.”
Ray Moisa is a member of the Senior News Community Advisory Council who sings along in Eureka.
