Our Youth are Okay

Last week, I received an email from a young woman that I had met a few weeks prior at the Lifesavers National Conference on Highway Safety Priorities in Louisville. We were in the same conference breakout session, and the young woman had recognized me because I had emceed the opening plenary session at the same conference in 2018. The woman introduced herself and told me that I had impressed her, and she had hoped to meet me last year. Last week, she followed up with an email to me, basically reiterating what she had told me in Louisville, which was how nice it was to finally meet me, how much she enjoyed my “strong and powerful” emcee style, and that she is just happy to be able to finally tell me that.

To say that I was humbled by her words is an understatement. This young woman was a student last year and a recipient of one of the Lifesavers Traffic Safety Scholarships. To be considered for the scholarships, students must submit an essay regarding a traffic safety question. The Traffic Safety Scholars also usually submit abstracts about traffic safety research projects they are conducting. Those of us on the Lifesavers Planning Committee attend a reception for the scholars and have an opportunity to visit with the young scholars. Here’s the thing – every one of the Traffic Safety Scholars I have ever visited with are smarter than me – way smarter. Not only that, they are humble, deferential to the “older” professionals, and appreciative of the time we spend with them.

And, it’s not just the Traffic Safety Scholars I encounter that possess these attributes. The week that we were at the Lifesavers Conference, I had an opportunity to spend some time with the two adult “20 something” children of my colleague and friend, Isabel. For the past 11 years, I have watched Jessica and Jorge graduate from high school and college (and in Jessica’s case – graduate school), and forge their own path and careers in this world. In Louisville, we had thoughtful conversations sans any electronic devices about world issues, as well as their future plans. They asked me questions about my life, and seemed genuinely interested when I spoke. But, I also asked them for their opinions on issues because there is so much that I can learn from them.

Last week, we also said goodbye to our Spring semester intern, Caitlyn, who will graduate from Texas A&M in May. Caitlyn, like so many of the young professionals that I meet, is intelligent, empathetic, and poised beyond her years.

I get that I live in Dallas and have opportunities to interact with some of the brightest youth on our planet, while others of my generation don’t see the same things I do. I recently tried to explain to my husband what our daughter’s occupation is – she’s a website coder. My husband doesn’t own a smartphone, can’t log in to the Internet, and has never used a web application. He can’t type and never took a Computer Science class in college. I love my husband, but trying to explain software programing to him was equivalent to someone trying to explain quantum physics to me.

The reality is that our world and technology are changing exponentially. I hear a lot of complaints from people of my generation who have not had the experiences I have who blame today’s youth for the degradation of moral values and societal ills. I think my parent’s generation did the same, as did their parent’s generation. But, given the chance, I believe we can all learn from each other. I hope I don’t ever lose my curiosity or the desire to learn, or the ability to be “awed” by the young people around me.

From where I sit, the future appears to be in good hands. This is more than good news to me, because on Friday, I spent an hour gazing at the beautiful sleeping face of my great niece. She and her generation deserve the best this world has to offer.