TIME OUT:Youth is far from wasted on the young, writes MARIE MURRAY
AM I alone in noticing that people are getting younger? Because they are. Each year their decrease in age is evident. It is disconcerting, but it is indisputable. People are getting younger and have been doing so now for a number of years.
The metamorphosis from older to younger is especially noticeable in public servants and in authority figures generally. Policemen have reportedly always been prone to this. But the problem extends well beyond the Garda. While gardaí have certainly grown younger and transformed from the formidable older authority figures they once were to the youthful people they have become, there are many others in the public service joining their ranks and decreasing in age.
This issue of people becoming younger requires analysis because if the trend continues children will be in public office before long. Indeed, sightings have already been recorded. Transmogrifications are taking place all over the country. Youth is creeping up on people. It is without warning. It is worrying.
It would be premature to posit an alien invasion, but some mutation has occurred that has transmuted older adults into fresh-faced youths. It is visible in hospitals. It is happening to doctors, it is evident in nurses, and there is nothing more alarming than a dental visit to a child in a white coat.
There are paediatricians who cannot be much older than their patients. Obstetricians who cannot know the facts of life. There are schoolboy scientists and schoolgirl meteorologists and fresh-faced economists who ought to be counting their communion money rather than making pronouncements on fiscal affairs.
The age-contagion is everywhere: on public transport, at the library, among solicitors, at the vets – all around us there are people who are growing younger. They are bus drivers, they are electricians, they are plumbers, they are architects and engineers and analysts and professors. There is a particular epidemic of youth among soldiers and all uniformed officials in every sphere.
Occasionally, when people of a certain vintage get together they discover that they share this observation about the invasion of youth. They surmise that they are not alone in noticing the onset of decreasing age around them. Then they recognise together the lens through which they look and smile wryly at the relativity of their shared perception of age. They diffuse the delusion. They understand the deception. Others are not getting younger.
They realise that a new generation is all around them and that it is as good as any generation that has gone before. They appreciate the skill in young hands, the compassion in young eyes and the brightness in young intellects. They recognise the craftsmanship in what they make, the inspiration in what they compose, and the innovation in what they imagine.
They appreciate the novelty in what they write, the technology that they use, the professionalism with which they advise and the energy in what they do. They recognise that it is time to welcome the next generation and make room for them to grow.
It is then that they remember when they began their own professional lives many years ago, the journey they travelled, the people who mentored them and the gratitude they owe to them for passing on their wisdom at that time. They remember the encouragement and the grace with which space was created for them.
They acknowledge the need to continue the weave of information and expertise from one generation to the next, each new cohort taking its turn, each supporting and being supported by the other and all doing something worthwhile in life and in each other’s lives. Youth is not wasted on the young – it is to the benefit of all.
Marie Murray is a clinical psychologist and author. Her weekly radio slot Mindtimeis on Drivetimewith Mary Wilson on Wednesdays on RTÉ Radio One