I have often heard from folks over 40 years of age that young people in their twenties just don’t have the work ethic that we have ”“ that the whole generation is lazy. Their parents have coddled them too much, given them too much and didn’t require that they work for it. Some of that may be true, I don’t know. It certainly seems that way sometimes but perhaps our views are skewed. What I do know is that not all of them are that way. I have met many young people that are highly motivated and hard working.

I had a young man working for me a few years ago that came from a single parent, poor family. His mother worked two jobs and he worked hard in school and held a part time job while in high school. He did so well that he got a full scholarship to Brown University, a very prestigious school. He graduated at the top of his class and worked very hard for while he was with us.

More recently, in fact very recently, I have hired two young people in our advertising department. Both of them are working hard and learning their jobs. This past weekend, one of them, Alex MacDonald, was playing rugby and broke her collarbone. She called me over the weekend to let me know and to my delight and surprise showed up for work on Monday morning, albeit in rough shape. It turns out she shouldn’t have, because she exacerbated the problem and now is forced to take time off and heal. My point is, she called me both over the weekend and after seeing her family physician on Monday. She took her job, her responsibility seriously. She showed me that she has a strong work ethic. We have other young people in our organization that work hard also.

I had a conversation with my 11-year-old daughter Olivia’s teacher not long ago and she told me that Olivia is doing marvelously. She is working very hard and producing great work. I have looked at some of the work she has done this year and I must admit, I concur. You may be thinking that I am biased and that the teacher is telling me what I want to hear. But I have always told her teachers that I want the truth, that the only thing that will make me feel good is genuinely good work on Olivia’s part and I believe they are being honest with me, particularly since I do look at her work. This is just one more example of a young person, a very young person in this case, working hard and doing great things.

Sometimes we older folks tend to universalize that which is not universal. We see a particular phenomenon, behaviors exhibited by some in a certain group and think that everyone in that group is the same in that respect. “All young people are lazy. All Italians are in the mob or violent, all Jews are cheap, Frenchmen are stupid.” As I get older I am trying not to fall into that trap. I prefer to assume the best about people and give them the benefit of the doubt. I try to judge them by their behavior, not someone else’s that looks like them or is of the same generation or background.

I’m proud of the young people on my staff, of their commitment to working hard and having integrity, and I’m suggesting that all of us older folk celebrate these characteristics in them and let them know we appreciate them.

Thanks for reading, for staying informed and engaged in our community by reading every day. Please drive safe, be kind, hug your children, shop local and have a wicked, cool, outstanding, magnificent spring week!

— Bruce M. Hardina is the Publisher of the Journal Tribune, a singer song-writer, a philosopher, a student of life and the human experience, a columnist, a loving neighbor, friend, father, son and brother. Please feel free to comment on his musings with a Letter to the Editor by emailing jtcommunity@journaltribune.com or mail a note to Journal Tribune, Attn: Editor, 457 Alfred Street Biddeford. ME 04005.

Copy the Story Link

Comments are not available on this story.