It's us against the world

Visiting my grandmother has always been an event I look forward to. When I was a kid, she used to fill my head about stories from the era of Marshal Law and the recession her family had experienced during her childhood. She usually narrates with such an expression about the hardships they have experienced - from the intense starvation that swooned the Filipino masses, to the cruel regulations one has to obey in school. I'm thinking that half of those stories are made-up, just to get the attention of her most beloved grandchildren. Yes, she catches our interest, and I am sure that most grandparents are like that too.

However, as I grew up, her stories were somehow transformed from being a source of entertainment to being a basis of ridicule and sermon.

"In my days, we worked hard under the sun for a mere peso, and we were happy when it bought us food for the entire day. Children nowadays seem to act like money grows on trees!"

Everybody knows about these famous "in my days" and "children nowadays" speeches we so painfully endure during those instances that don't really require much notice. I, for one, experience this whenever I ask money to buy some clothes, to spend for a school project, and to other usual expenses our generation encounters on a daily basis. It's just the way of life that has evolved in present time.

Whatever we do, we are always compared to the youth of the previous generation, who are, in their perspective, more conservative, more respectful, more decent, generally, so much better than the youth today.

And yes, it may be true. In fact, it is quite true indeed. We, more often than not, use swear words to express our negative emotions. We usually go with the trends of the wider circles of influence rather than stick to our individuality. We honestly forget at times to show due respect to the elderly and authority. We are far more liberated in doing what we want and getting what we can have. Today's generation is associated with vices along the words of sex, drugs, money, drinking, driving, being skinny, being flawless, and being beautiful. And those who fail the invisible "standards" are labelled outcasts.

But then, for these same reasons, isn't it that our generation has proven to be smarter, wiser, more capable, and stronger? It's not our fault that time has exposed us to the factors that have shaped us to become who we are today, that does not lay in our hands. Likewise, it's not our fault either that the supposedly more "ideal" generation lived in the time of great difficulty, which made them as they were.

We may not have lived during the time when Marcos gained supremacy and the nation became terrified, but we face the same pressure in our everyday lives, being subject to the standards of society and an even greater pressure of fitting in. We may not have experienced war with bloodshed, but we encounter STD's, HIV/AIDS, bulimia, and anorexia, that print horrid images in our minds of the disasters that can happen to almost anyone. We may not have experienced slaying under the sun all day for a living, but we are exposed to the expectations of an older generation to grow in the image of themselves.

It's true; we have never experienced all of these. We weren't there during the war, and famine, and poverty, but have most certainly faced our own version - those of ridicule, and greed, and hate. We are constantly being told that we are just not good enough.

No. We are just as good as they are. It's time to take a stand and prove ourselves. We have our flaws, but we are stronger and more capable, because we encounter things they won't ever learn about. We know about war, and it does not always involve weapons. We know about poverty, and it isn't always in the material sense of the word. We know about hunger, and it isn't always from deprivation of food. We know about their war - do they know about ours?

Or generation fights a different kind of battle. We have experienced just as much as them, and maybe even more.