This week, I overheard an expression I hadn’t heard before. One lady was talking to another about the “strawberry” generation.
I was at the supermarket (in Singapore), so I assumed something was afoot in the fruit and vegetable aisle. Curious, I walked around the aisle for a look. But there was nothing to see besides the two old ladies continuing their conversation. Pretending to browse, I couldn’t avoid listening a diatribe of comments about how soft, selfish, and delicate today’s kids are compared to their own hardy and steadfast generation. The other lady could not have agreed more.
I soon got the “strawberry” point; the metaphor was obvious, even to me. In fact, rather than a new expression, I had heard the same nonsense before (back home in the UK) under the guise of the so-called “snowflake” generation. Perhaps it’s something to celebrate when East and West are so united.
In fact, there’s been a long tradition of naming generations based on when people were born:
- Baby boomers – 1946-64
- Gen X – 1965-1980
- Gen Y (Millennials) – 1981-96
- Gen Z (Zoomers) – 1997-2012…
There’s a narrative that history has shaped the cultural traits of each generation and how they might see the world. I think that’s reasonable on the whole (I welcome evolving values on so many issues) but I really get irritated when people judge other generations (wholesale) based on a date of birth as the basis to confirm whatever nonsense has just crossed their minds. I just don’t buy it.
But it doesn’t really matter what I think, does it? We all love to label things, and there’s just no stopping it. Seth Godin recently published an article advocating for the latest generation to be named Gen C. He thinks it’s going to stick, and I think he’s probably right.
C if for COVID, C is for Carbon, and C is for Climate.
According to Godin, the combination of years of school spend at home, in a mask, restricted by lockdowns, combined with the significant revolutions of our times (political, economic, social, and technological) means that every decision, investment, and interaction will be filtered by Gen C through the lens of carbon, remediation, and resilience.
This resonates with me. It’s both optimistic and pragmatic. It’s not a label that is trying to posthumously describe a generation; it’s one that recognizes where our kids are, the challenges that we have left them, and the work ahead to protect humanity.
Generation C didn’t ask for any of this, but this is the hand they have been dealt.
Calling them strawberries, snowflakes, or any other disparaging label is not what I see in our young people…, and it is not how we should honour our future.
I see young people who connect, who collaborate, and who care. Of course, there are selfish, lazy, and apathetic young people in our Gen C, but don’t let us kid ourselves that these traits are not alive and kicking across all of the ages of time.
But if you really do think that kids these days are lacking, you will at least be in good company:
“The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority, they show disrespect to their elders. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and are tyrants over their teachers”.
Socrates, c.2400 years ago.
Serendipities 