A love letter to the older generations

During my childhood, every Friday played out like a well-rehearsed movie script. The day started off with Khichuri with the family, the smell of Ghee filling the air at breakfast, followed by a leisurely lunch after the Jummah prayers.

In the afternoon, we would reunite to be engrossed in a lengthy game of Scrabble, sprawled across the floor, while my grandmother sat on a sofa retelling stories of her youth. However, after sundown – each member ventured off into their own realm.

While my mother went on to watch her favourite shows with her mother-in-law, my father disappeared into the study, captivated by the pages of a recently acquired auto-biography. My brother immersed himself in his own enigmatic pursuits behind closed doors, leaving me hours and hours to engage in deep conversation with my friends over the phone — conversations that felt monumentally significant in those fleeting moments.

Five people, in four rooms, physical separation accentuated by tangible brick walls. However, as the years passed, an intangible wall began to force its way in between us which seemed to expand on its own accord, growing wider with time.

I cannot tell you how often "You don't understand", "You won't get it", and "You are too young/old to know what this means" were hurled at one another, from both sides, during petty arguments.

Now as I reflect on those moments, my educated observation regarding the intangible force that seemed to pervade our household — a topic that has been extensively explored, discussed, and written about: the generational gap.

According to the Oxford Languages, a generational gap is defined as, "a difference of attitudes between people of different generations, leading to a lack of understanding."

These differences, whether they are connected to ethics, morals, technical, or political perspectives, have formed rifts across multiple generations, causing the gap to widen with time.

Despite not always being on the same page, it is imperative that we acknowledge how indispensable our connection to the generations that came before us truly is.

Progress dons a fresh attire with each passing generation. What one generation perceives as progress may appear entirely different or even unrecognizable to the succeeding one.

They experienced their own trenches, for some quite literally, and drawing parallels between trenches proves unproductive, and belittling one another's personal experiences is equally unhelpful.

Over the past few years, with the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, rapid technological advancements, and natural hurdles such as the global pandemic, the invisible division has become more apparent than ever before.

Whether it's been in the workplace, educational institutions, or even in the comfort of their own homes, many have seen their loved ones struggle to transition smoothly out of the old norms and into the new.

So the next time you see your aged professor grappling with online classes, when your mother asks you to show her how to add music to Facebook stories, when your religious grandfather questions gender fluidity – it is not the lack of intelligence or ignorance. These are simply new concepts to which they had not been exposed to them the way that we have been.

Frustration may naturally arise when assisting them through these transitional phases, however, without the wars they fought, the stereotypes they broke, the barriers they extended, and the society they have built, where would we be today?

In a world that continually evolves, where generational gaps may seem insurmountable at times, we must remind ourselves that on the days when we feel they are falling behind in the race of life, it is their concrete foundation that we are able to run on.