Youth: Old With Worry
After the meeting with Lord Asriel, the Master and the Librarian set out for the Master’s lodging in order to reminisce on the previous happenings. As they talk about Lyra’s future, the Librarian comments on youth and the elderly by saying, “’That’s the duty of the old,’ said the Librarian, ‘to be anxious on behalf of the young. And the duty of the young is to scorn the anxiety of the old.’” (Pullman, 32)
The idea that the old worry on behalf of the young, and the young resent this concern appears in numerous examples throughout our society. The archetypal concept of the anxious old appears in texts such as The Giver, where the elders run the social order. However, this concept strays vastly from today’s culture.
More and more pressure from grades, college, and the future weigh heavily upon the shoulders of today’s youth. Although parents worry about their children, a lot more of the anxiety exudes from the adolescents that carry these burdens. Everywhere, examples of kids getting no sleep or panicking from the amount of work schools present them flash in today’s news.
Maybe thirty years ago the belief of the Librarian’s take on youth might stand true. Yet, as the years passed the amount of stress and anxiety laid on kids increased more than imaginable. What will more time do to the worry placed on adolescents?
Proposition: Although some worries take place within the elderly, most of the anxiety exudes from the youth.
