Nicola Alpe: Gen Z, you have more in common with boomers than you think

Young people forget that the very generation they scorn for their inaction and archaic beliefs were considered trailblazers in their time. Photo / Getty Images

OPINION:

Tomorrow is World Youth Day and this year's theme is transforming food systems - ideal given the proclivity of the youth of today being more invested in the where and how of their food than ever before.

In the efforts of research for this piece I thoroughly confused myself by investigating generations, their names, ages and what characterises them. I read screeds of generalisations about generations, which only served to remind me that I can no longer legitimately call myself a youth. As if there was any question, given we've all just watched the world's best youths competing for two weeks in Tokyo. I'd definitely fall more into the coach category than competitor.

The generational divide has always been around, but it seems to be even more so these days, when everything seems to divide us: politics, your level of activism, language, wanting to speak to the manager, the vaccine, and although she didn't invent the okay Boomer insult, Chloe Swarbrick brought it to the nation's greater awareness in her swipe at a fellow MP in 2019. On brand for petty Parliament bickering, but definitely not on brand with the current Be Kind messaging.

As strange as it may seem, youths, and I'm talking older Gen Z and Millennials, do have similarities with at the other end of the scale, Boomers, although I'm picking they would both absolutely hate to think so.

Youth always pride themselves on their activism and liberated thinking. We should applaud them for dedicating their energy, time and bandwidth to creating change. Our youth today make decisions about how they are going to live their lives that didn't enter my stream of consciousness at that age. Globally they march for the environment, for Palestine, for Israel, for women's rights, for BLM, and for the LGBTQ+ community.

Where they get it wrong is that the very generation they scorn for their inaction and archaic beliefs, their own grandparents in fact, were also considered trailblazers in their time.

In the late 1960s the gay rights movement started and New Zealanders followed their American counterparts. By the early 1970s, change was afoot in this country. The laws were still rigid and unfair, but the discussions and activism were a start, and change happens one step at a time.

Around this time people were working to bring women out of the kitchen and into the workforce. Aided by the contraceptive pill and figureheads like Gloria Steinem, they started to fight for women to be included in the workplace. Again, there is a way to go to be on equal footing with our male counterparts, but it had to start somewhere. Boomers were included in those fighting against the Springbok tour of 1981, they embraced miniskirts and who could forget that Boomers were the early adopters of the Beatles, much to their own parents' disgust, who you could say changed the musical landscape forever.

Time may dull the shine on achievements from decades ago, but they have been in our lives for so long that we take many of the freedoms that we enjoy for granted. At the time they were groundbreaking steps towards how we live our lives now.

I'm grateful to youth of the past who created change and I'm grateful for the youth of today who passionately continue to do so. I'm all for celebrating the passionate and brave change makers they are.