When I was growing up and did something wrong I got a spanking, it was a punishment to make me very aware of my bad choices. I got a lot of spankings. Later on it was groundings, in which I basically never got to leave the house for a year, then it gravitated to extra chores that had to be completed. I did resent these decisions my parents put in place but it did teach me how to work, and work hard.
Later on, when I joined the workforce on my own, I got yelled at, put down, swore at, and degraded as I learned what I was supposed to do, and how it had to be done properly. I adopted this type of training when I had to teach fresh new workers that came to work on the job. If they couldn't handle the pressure of the job and the derogatory remarks then they either quit or got fired. You couldn't be soft in my line of work, you had to be able to get the job done under duress and if you were weak minded or lazy you wouldn't have a job very long.
The world has changed since that time, and now we have rules and regulations against treating people a certain way, and the next generation coming into adulthood is a softer weaker type of person. They don't fail classes, they don't get spankings, they don't learn discipline, and they get away with a lot more than I used to.
It's for this reason that I thought they were a lazy generation, and our world would be worse off for it. I'm sure my parents and their parents before them thought the exact same things as I do about the future generation of children turned adult. But just like in every new era the world changes and continues to change.
The work is different, and it's no longer just a purely physical or mental type of work force out there anymore. Now we have robots that do a lot of our menial tasks for us. I think about all the graphics, blogs, websites, app creation, YouTube videos, snap chat photos, opinion articles, self help, medical advice and a whole slew of new and innovative idea stemming from the internet alone, creating jobs for millions when there was a limited amount before the internet came into existence.
The generation I thought was lazy is actually a huge force out there, brimming with new ideas and concepts for design innovation that goes far beyond simply going to work every day. It's a love of what they do, and it shows with all the new products and ideas out there.
Maybe the next generation isn't as lazy as I thought and perhaps there is hope for us yet.
Scott Goerz
