I listened to Roy Hudd on the Radio last weekend. Now Mr Hudd is of my age group and, I’m sure that he won’t mind me saying, but he seems very “old school”. By that I mean that he has values that many of my generation, although not all of them, have. Raised in times of hope and optimism, we have carried those concepts into our adult lives. Indeed, they still define us, even in these more sombre times and despite the experiences of a lifetime behind us.
These qualities were demonstrated to me a few years ago when I went to a meeting of the founder members of the National Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens, of which I was one. Given that the Federation was set up in 1980, we, none of us, were spring chickens. Yet the session after lunch on that Saturday afternoon was scheduled “Plans for the Future”. Not for us Bruce Springsteen’s “Glory Days”, but what we still intended to do. It was one of the most life affirming weekends that I’ve ever had.
Later the following week, I contacted Tracy, the organiser, who said that “You people in this movement are generous, warm spirited and community minded and you genuinely believe in change because you’ve seen what is has done for others as well as for yourselves”. It was as good an epitaph for a generation as I could have hoped for and something we need to pass on to those who follow.
So, to those who are inclined to, please don’t blame this generation for our current ills. After all, they didn’t help create them, they are largely the inheritors of others mistakes. And have a care towards them if you want them to strive for the hope and optimism that we had. They deserve no less.