LITTLE WHIPPERSNAPPERS…ever heard that expression? What’s with it anyway?

A delightful older German man that lived next door to our small family restaurant in Thompsonville, MI used that phrase quite often when he was lovingly referring something to my middle daughter, Amy….”You little Whippersnapper” with a bit of a lisp. She would smile from ear to ear because she knew he was going to pass on a bit of “old school wisdom” from his past. He and his wife owned the restaurant at a previous time and our way of doing things drove him nuts! However, he and his wife always came by and warmed the stools at the counter and chatted with our guests and harassed the girls.  Everyone loved them and Jerry’s advice.

So as I approach his age then, wonder what is up with our current generation, the “little whippersnappers”?

Is it a term of endearment or criticism of the younger generation speaking out quickly with a bite? Jumping to an answer without really having enough information to really know what they are talking about. Interesting!

I feel very badly for this generation of “whippersnappers”. They have no clue what the greedy, self serving adults of the baby boomer generation or was it GenX is saddling them with. Living in “the moment” for self gratification has led them down a path perhaps of less then optimal education resulting in low paying job opportunities for many. The fear they were raised in of wondering whether there would be a tomorrow, the fear of dying early in one of many senseless wars ( at least they seemed senseless to many of us), and the hopelessness of being able to move up the corporate ladder as their grandparents and parents did has perhaps led them to have a weaker faith in the moral fib-re of this country. Being entitled as Dr Phil often states is prevalent within this generation. They don’t get what it is to want and wait for something, it’s instant gratification from sex, to drugs and alcohol’s temperate high, to owning a brand new vehicle at 16, with use of violence to settle disputes instead of negotiation. People within their own families being shot, stabbed, murdered in violent ways, suicide is still on the rampage and homelessness among teenagers.

This is the generation that will eventually spurn the new leaders in America, the Senators, Representatives, Governors and of course the President. Does this fact send chills up your spine as it does mine? Where have we gone awry? What happened to the morals and values this country was founded on? What happened to parents wanting children and taking pride in how they raised them? What happened that people seem to have “snapped”, overwhelmed and crazed by the economy and loss of jobs, homes and lack of funds to keep everyone together and flourishing? When did the desire to be “better” give way to self directed greed and lack of principles? Where do we go from here you “little whippersnappers”?

How do we turn around the spiraling downward this country is on and bring back what we seem to have lost? How do we as adults with many thousands grandparents and aging elderly instill those ethics, honesty and compassion we were raised with? How do we stop the lying, deceit and  greed in our public officials? How did the precept that “anyone can grow up to be president” go by the wayside and become: “Anyone can become president if they have enough money to spend on over-rated campaign pledges and promises & advertising earned not with hard work and effort and pride in achievement, but earned with illegal donations, cheating, whatever it takes to win!

Well little “whippersnappers” I believe in your futures even if they do not appear bright at the moment. I believe in a loving compassionate creative God, I believe in the principles this country was founded upon. I for one will hold you accountable for the direction of your own futures, after all, we’ve allowed your present to become pretty screwed up and murky haven’t we?

It’s time to face the music, to teach the qualities that carry one through life, to eliminate high costs of bare necessities such as rent, housing, food, gasoline, utilities. We are intelligent hard working folks with gumption and pride in our country. So lets ban together you “little whippersnappers”, the old geezers and the ones in between and collectively create small inroads in the mess we have all helped to create. What do you say, “little whippersnappers”? Let’s just do it, do something peacefully, in consideration for one another, frugally and turn this country around ...” by it’s ear”. ( Now that’s another old expression I might want to cover at a later time too).

According to Webster: A young and inexperienced person considered to be presumptuous or overconfident, is a WHIPPERSNAPPER…just love it when I am right!