Ancient texts warned of us of this momentary lapse of reason.

For those of you who are closer to my age bracket, the nearing 50s, a certain news generation might strike as downright weird. The current 20 something year old generation has little to no concept of how rights and duties are closely related.

“It’s not fair!”, “It’s my right!” Come on, admit it you’ve heard that one before from that generation and we can probably all admit to have pulled that one once or twice in our younger years, less experienced years. The difference is that most of us didn’t get away with tantrums and those who did pay the consequences today. But what is frightening is to see more and more children form that generation demanding rights without understanding the counter part that gives such rights duty. For every right, there is a duty.

I was one of the last years when civic duties, as they called then was taught in HIgh School. It was interesting in hindsight, although at the time, it felt I was learning about an ancient and outdated system. Rightfully so as with anyone in the early twenties, I wanted more, demanded more without any real world experience. Over time I learned, as with everyone else.

Is it wrong for the new twenty year old something generation to demand and ask so much more from life? Certainly not. That is how we have evolved over the centuries, however much. Yet one thing is troubling these days interacting with this generation. They are clearly very clueless and probably the result of our generation being squeezed for ever more work and less time to spend with our families. Are setting up yet again another generation for failure? It seems so.

Of course, this observation is from southern California and I saw the same thing in France last year. However, I don’t see that in the South where children are taught the basics of communications, such as saying “Hello”, “Thank you” and “Goodbye”.

Unrealistic expectations are to be expected from a generation with no real life experience, but demands are harder to deal with, especially when you bend over backward to accommodate them with nothing as much as a thank you. How far do you go? When do you yield? Where do you draw the line? Those are questions I am sure many parents ask themselves daily and many couples like us without kids have plenty of answers. It’s hard to see a twenty year old kid making childish demands and throwing tantrums in order to get them. It certainly doesn’t set them up for a bright future. I’d be interested in hearing about your experiences.

Picture: Nicolas Zart

The workplace is fraught with intrigues and plots… well, maybe not everyone’s but maneuvering the workplace can be challenging.

My latest challenge is an awkward one. What do you do when the owner’s child comes back and makes unrealistic schedule demands after you have already obliged 3 times in a year, annoying others around and without as much as a thank you?

It’s tough to be nice to everyone, to be as accommodating as you can and have a young kid throw a tantrum because the hours are not “fair”. Now fair, for a 22 year old is very, very different from what fair actually really is. And at 22, what experience do we have of life and work?

So the question stil remains, how do you deal with pesky demanding juniors at work, especially if they are related to the owner? This is the time when you need to take a long cold hard look at your life and ask if you are in the right environment and especially if this environment will give you all you need to fulfill your life. Pesky junior members can be aggressive and demand a lot, which can be frustrating for those of us who have more life experience. They won’t wait. They don’t think they should and certainly have a sense they deserve more. And the funny thing is they are right. Unfortunately, they are right at your expenses.

Sometimes I wonder if my generation is also another sacrificed one. I felt my parents were and never imagined my generation would find itself in this mess we’ve seen brewing over decades ago. In the meantime, politicians enjoy outrageous lavish lifestyle on our hard earn money with almost no accountability. It’s a tricky situation and a tough spot. Do you swallow whatever ego you have left and let the junior walk all over you or do you make a stand which could be financially disastrous? Either way, the feeling is not going to be fun.

It’s a scary step into the unknown and after all this is what the excitement about life is.