I wasn't expecting a fifteen year old to restore my hope in the future. Without meaning to, I as an adult slowly stopped spending time with people much younger than myself. As adults, our circles tighten and conversations remain among colleagues, peers, and people roughly our own age. It then becomes inevitable as a result that entire generations become statistics or subjects to complain about. Teenagers are labelled "young people of these days" "abavubuka." We forget that young people are people.
I guess this is why I was surprised by how much I enjoyed spending time with a fifteen year old. She was simply delightful company, kind, funny, thoughtful, curious, unusually mature and exceptionally wise. She was that type of person around whom time moves so quickly. One conversation becomes another, one laugh becomes several, five minutes becomes an hour, and an hour becomes an afternoon.
I found myself looking forward to her each morning because I was enjoying her company. In a way, this such ordinary thing to say about a person, except that as an adult I rarely speak about teenagers this way.
We, well or at least I, tend to talk about them collectively. We discuss generations, analyse trends, complain about phones and social media and attention spans, and yet every young person is first a person. A person who is a collection of stories, fears, hopes, dreams, kindness, awkwardness, and possibilities.
I left feeling hopefuly hopeful, and this is not because one teenager represents an entire generation, that would be unfair, but because every now and then you encounter someone young and are reminded that the future is not being built by "young people of these days." It is being built by actual human beings, many of whom are wonderful.
Very often we think wisdom moves in one direction, that the old teach the young, that experience flows downhill but no. It is two directional. Every now and then, we learn, borrow, experience something from the next generation. It could be anything from their curiosity, enthusiasm, ability to laugh easily, openness, optimism, and if we are fortunate, like I was, they remind us that growing older does not mean becoming cautious when it comes to joy.
My biggest lesson was that as I grow older I must remain humble enough to be surprised, be open to experiences and discover that good company comes in unexpected ages.
From where my feet are, hope for the future is not something abstract or blurry. Hope has a cute laugh and a lovely personality.
Beautiful. Truly.
ReplyDelete