No. This is not an article about the Alphaville song either, although it has some relation.
Why is it that whenever I start an article the title of a song comes to mind? Perhaps you should play the video and hear the music while reading.
Today I was thinking about a post by AlexisBarrios that mentioned the Peter Pan syndrome. In the country where I live (Spain) it is true that young people are becoming independent later and later, they are taking longer and longer to enter the labor market and to take on responsibilities such as starting a family.
On the one hand, it may be that we have developed a Peter Pan syndrome that makes us want to live as young people forever. But I think there are other factors as well.
Comforts
This generation has probably enjoyed many, many comforts thanks to their parents and when they consider emancipating themselves they don't want to renounce them. Perhaps they want to leave the family home without losing the comfort of living in the family home. In other words: perhaps they have many demands and expectations to meet before doing so.
Training
Despite the adjectives that are often used to denigrate an entire generation, in my opinion today's young people are among the most trained. They are digital natives, they have completed a degree and perhaps a master's degree, they have lived abroad, they speak several languages and are skilled with technology. They are highly qualified young people willing to continue training and learning.
Neverland
Do young people live in an imaginary world? I don't know. Certainly many of their parents do. Previous generations used to have a linear life development: if you study, you will have a good job. With a good job, you can get a house. And with a house you can have a family. And that was more or less the case. It was more or less certain to happen.
What characterizes today's young people is uncertainty. That old linear world no longer exists. Training does not guarantee a job, much less a sufficient salary, and housing… better not to speak of it. If young people live in Neverland is because previous generations have sold it to them.. But let's go step by step.
Employment
It is common to talk about low or high wages in general. But wages are not low or high in themselves (if we compare the average wage in Spain with Rwanda or Norway it would be high and low at the same time. A quantum wage).
Wages are sufficient or insufficient (not high and low) in relation to the cost of living in a country. In that sense, in Spain, young people who are employed (there are many, too many who are not) do not receive a sufficient salary to meet their expectations. Let's say that the labor market does not return the investment that these young people (and their families) have made in their own training.
Housing
Access to housing is really impossible for young people. Real estate speculation has led to a huge gap between the average salary of a young person and the average price of a house (either rented or owned through mortgage payments). It is completely impossible for a young person to become emancipated if they have to spend 80% of their income on housing.
'It's so hard to get old without a cause
I don't want to perish like a fading horse
Youth's like diamonds in the sun
And diamonds are forever'
Alphaville's verse takes on a new meaning. It's hard, yes, growing up and taking on responsibilities with nothing to hold on to. And yet, young people are our greatest asset, as diamonds, because they are our future, our 'forever'.
Therefore, It is logical that they remain at home with their parents and that they delay their emancipation more and more. From their parents' home they can continue their education or save little by little to be able to access, perhaps with luck, to a house.
When I hear adults talk about young people, it is very typical to hear phrases like: 'the young people of today are not like those of the past' or 'at that age I was already married and with children'. Sure, if we see it from the point of view and context of an adult, it is true. But what if we change it to the point of view and context of a young person?
Imagine, you adult, that you go back to being 25 years old as you were at 25. And now try to live in today's context. Without knowing languages, or computer skills, or technology, with today's salaries and prices, and with your training as an apprentice in some occupation or craft… Would you be married with children? Moreover, do you think you would find a job? And if you did, would it be enough to meet your expectations? Good luck, my friend! You'll need it…
What you'd probably do is organize with other young people and stage protests that no one would stop. That's what I recognize to the previous generations and what the current young people don't have. That facility to organize in collectives, protest, and fight for their rights. Perhaps that is what today's young people should do in the face of the unfair treatment they receive from the labor market.
In any case, it is not a matter of defending one generation against the other, but of understanding each other and recognizing the virtues of each of them.
'Let us die young or let us live forever'
Again, a wise verse with a deep meaning. It is not about dying soon, but dying young. Young as a state of mind. Staying young despite dying many years old.
Can we remember ourselves young and keep that mentality to understand today's young people? Are we able to be… forever young?
Credits: all images are own creations from Creative Commons vector graphics.
This article has been possible thanks to my sponsors. Take a look to their posts. They are really great!
With all conditions we currently have, obviously, we want to keep forever young, life isn´t easy but c´mon, we certainly have it harder. But no worries we keep dancing to the music.