Keeping it to yourself (Understanding the youth of America)

Yesterday I visited my old hometown Willmar, Minnesota. The visit included a trip to the church I went to for the first 18 years of my life and was later married in just 25 years ago next week. Many of the faces are the same, just older, but many new people have moved in since I left.

As I sat getting ready for the service to start yesterday one of the new comers and one of the old timers had a conversation I couldn't help but over hear.

I would guess the younger person was in her 30's and the older person was about 80.

The conversation went something like this. (Notice how the younger person handles the questions).

Older Gentleman: Are you still working at the same place?

Younger lady: Yes but as of May 2nd I will be moving on.

O: Why? Didn't they treat you well?

Y: I found another place to work.

O: You will lose all your vacation time.

Y: I get a chance work with new people.

O: But you're starting all over. From nowhere. From scratch.

Y: Yes.

O: Doesn't it concern you?

Y: It's in Mankato.

O: Why Mankato?

Y: They do the same thing my old company does. I'm looking forward to it.

The older guy had lots of questions. You could tell from his tone he couldn't understand why somebody would leave a perfectly good job for another job. The younger person didn't answer the questions directly it was like she spoke another language.

It was a clear case of two people from two different generations taking a completely different view of the world. Fascinating, at least to me.

I also noticed she never said anything bad about the place she was leaving. She was given several chances to bad mouth her current place of work, but didn't. It would have help the older gentleman understand her, in his opinion, rash actions. But she took the high road.

Certainly the younger lady has reasons why she is taking a job 2 hours away in the same blue collar industry but she choose to keep it to herself. She had the good manners, in my opinion, not to bad mouth her current situation or brag about a raise. Maybe she is running away from something in Willmar and wants a fresh start in Mankato. But again she is displaying the good sense of not unloading her baggage on this older gentleman in a public setting.

Far too often in life I have fallen victim to getting to hear (TMI) too much information from strangers. Likely I have shared TMI with strangers and friends from time to time. It is refreshing to be witness to somebody have polite conversation with destroying others or over sharing.

I'll try to get better. Don't be afraid to help me.