The other day I was teasing a friend about a recent post on twitter and I said “Old age is using style to worry you”. We laughed about it,but it got me thinking, ‘my generation is actually getting old’. Gosh!! Did I just say that out loud??

I sit down and listen to my older family members talk about the times before. They talk about generations from the 40’s till now, and blimey, times have changed. Imagine in the 60’s 70’s and 80’s children actually rode a bicycle without helmets, shin pads, elbow pads and even neck pads. [Wait first, I believe even the ‘Body pad’ will soon be invented at this rate]. In today’s society you wouldn’t think of doing that. You should see the way my grandma laughs when she looks at the way we fuss over the little ones and I’msure she will be saying “we never did it this way in my day”.

Let me list a number of things from yesterday’s society that will not be acceptable today. In those days we sat in the back seat of the car without wearing a seat belt. You didn’t dare move a muscle unless you were told to. In those days we entertained ourselves with sticks, sand, stones, boxes and any other thing we saw lying around. In those days we played Doctors and Nurses and Mummies and Daddies. In those days we were allowed to play outside and your parents knew where you were. In those days eating a sweet wasn’t an everyday thing;you had it on special occasions i.e. birthdays, Easter and so on. So we never really knew what obesity was. In those days we didn’t have a mobile phone, personal TV or all those gadgets, especially in our bedrooms. Need I go on? Do I hear you say yes?

In those days the TV stations signed on  about 4pm right after the national anthem. We would wait in earnest for Super Ted, Voltron and Danger Mouse. In those days we climbed trees and jumped fences. We walked to school, and even if you had to take the bus, you still walked (Sabo to Ojuelegba). In those days we had Nintendo and Sega Mega; we played in the play ground with our mates, regardless of who your parents where and when we felt thirsty we went to the tap and put our mouths straight to the tap and drank the cool refreshing liquid.  In those days Kelechi’s mum could also pick up Oluwafemi from school and feed him till his mum came to pick him up.

Aha!!! Such good times. I’ll ask you to do the maths with what happened in those days and if they will happen and be tolerated today.

Children of today have such a different way of life from the way it was when I was growing up, and different from the days of my parents and theirs before them. As the 7-up slogan used to read “The Difference is clear”.This generation is so different. Maybe it is the advent of the 21st century and all it brings. I do not know. Interestingly by the next decade or so the kids then will probably not know what a CD is; just as our parents listened to music on Vinyl and their parents before, the Gramophone.  Many haven’t heard of Frank Sinatra or OliverDe Coque, or Art Alade. They don’t know what the American Smooth is or the exact steps to the Foxtrot. What they know is Suwo and Alanta. Please correct me if I am wrong.

It makes me laugh to see this generation get so excited about a movie that they believe has just made, but the old generations first went to see it in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Need to clarify? Clash of The Titans, The ItalianJob, I am Legend, Robin Hood, The King and I, Star Trek, The Bourne Identity and many more. Seriously it cracks me up. Or when they hear some beats from an album they jump up and down shouting “mehn that beat is sick”. Err hello?? It is what is known as a ‘cover’ or sometimes a ‘sample’. Need to clarify yet again? LL Cool J Lose on Control 2006 – Afrika Bambaataa 1982. Nas/ChrisetteMichelle Can’t forget about you 2006 – Nat King Cole 1951. Mariah Carey2005 it’s like that – Run-DMC 1984. Will Smith Just theTwo of Us 1998 – Bill Withers 1981. Black Eyed Peas 2006 Mas Que Nada – SergioMendes 1966 but he actually copied this from Jorge Ben Jor 1963. Isn’t this generation golden??

So you see nothing is new but it is definitely not the original. Do I say it is a shame that the generations are so different or just be grateful for change?

P.S:  May I just whisper this ever so quietly? I may still be classified as a child of today…sshh don’t tell anybody