GENERATION GAP

GENERATION GAP

My boss seems to think that he actually he has a better musical orientation than most of us do. So I pointed out that he has a knowledge of music that he listened to as a youth and music that he grew up with . I was tempted to point out rather drily that that may also be limited but chose to stay my tongue.
Why he chose to join our little argument as we discussed music, Kwaito to be precise is a mystery to me. So there we are discussing the highs and comparing Mafikizolo, Brenda Fasie, Uhuru and other various artists when he starts telling us about how we are young and that he has more knowledge on kwaito than we do. I steered the topic towards South African house and challenged him to argue it out. The first thing he said was,  "what is that?"

A conversation I overheard in a supermarket between a teller and a customer. the customer was a young lady looking about twenties decent with a body to match. probably the only thing that drew my attention as i watched the exchange.
"Email niweke yamine?" The lady asks
 "Weka ya yours."  The teller, an elderly guy with  gray thinning hair on his head replies in the same vein.
I laugh silently! To begin with, I do not think the word yayours exists in any language spoken in Kenya. sheng inclusive. considering that then two were conversing in sheng, I couldn't help but feel the old mans zeal to stay on the same level with the customer. 

We have all had to contend with forty something year olds taking to the dance floors in clubs and gyrating their bodies in time to the beat as if to point to us the younger generation, YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO PARTY. At such times we stare, judge and shake our heads as our rebellious get away places are invaded by people who are old enough to be our parents. We look on as they pretend to like our music, we look on as they go on to get helplessly drunk and make  fools of themselves. Yet should anything go wrong with our lives fingers are pointed our way as tongues wag in that phrase that will never grow old as the generations change, "watoto wa siku hizi."
There are no mechanisms in society to bridge the age gap. When a forty something year old person develops a rebellious streak and realizes that midlife is new 21 and instead of devising ways they can keep themselves entertained while leaving their younger counterparts to their wiles, they instead choose to mingle with the young ones themselves. Wolves let loose among the lambs. Ere long, they are exploiting the innocence of the young lings and fill their heads with blatant nonsense about what to expect in the world out there at the same time filling their bellies with liquor, brandishing their big cars and fat wallets. An attempt at escapism from their failed lives. Young ladies play fiddle and form delusions of grandeur on the type of men they want, who sadly' they cannot find among their peers. Young men before long get pulled into sugar mummies and form a dependency on them that kills their ambitions and deters them from chasing their dreams. "After all am being provided for, why bother?" 
There is a group of people who have been sidelined by society. That age bracket of 21-26. At this point in life, you are expected to be old enough to take care of yourself and not old enough to be engaging in unsavory behavior.Most of the people are away at college during this age or are just fresh out of college and carving their way at the bottom of the corporate totem mostly with big dreams in their eyes. Their guardians are probably busy concentrating on their younger siblings or managing midlife crisis. Its left up to this group to guide themselves through life in patches that are often very thorny and dogged with challenges and dangers.
 In a society that has become dysfunctional, fraught with age stereotypes, full of a young generation that is bubbling with energy at discovering themselves and a middle generation group that is realizing what they missed in their twenties or heck life has just become sweeter, a bridge is needed. A bridge to close the gaps that make us judge, wrinkle our noses in disgust or even try to ape what the other generation is doing. A bridge to give clarity where vision is dim as to why we cringe inwardly and hope we don't turn out as some frustrated people we know. A bridge to the generation gap in work places especially open offices where you find yourself seated across a workmate who is old enough to be your father, who cant understand what Riddim music is or why House music appeals to you when to his ears its just noise. Abridge before Memos come raining down from Human Resource with accusations of "hauniheshimu!"
Brian Adams must have been right though, 18 TILL I DIE!