Attitude of the young sections in the world at large as well as across the country to life, markedly volatile in its ways has tended to mentally disturb the seniors for good, bad and indifferent reasons, covering psychological, economical and social factors, in random order of importance, not to forget the clear difference in the physical abilities of the two sections. The seniors have on their years of exposure to both happy and not-so-happy episodes over the years, arming them with the understanding of do’s-n-don’ts of daily life to keep away its blues and enjoy the remaining years, while terms and conditions apply as it were. The young flock are entitled to their dreams and aspirations, totally unrelated to those of past generations, thanks to the advances particularly in science and technology, in addition to life’s challenges demanding grit, sweat and toil like never before.

The often-heard portrayal of the land’s youth as way ward and disrespectful of the time-honoured diktats for orderly living raises the issue of the role played by people of successive past generations in nurturing the youth as they grow into adulthood. Also, the dialogue between the two distinct sections with age-driven division seems to have got snapped with no signs of change.

While the young are in their fast lane, the seniors, per se, are staying in their slow lane, with the physical and more importantly, mental gap set to be yawning as time passes. To expect either section to take the much needed initiative in coming close amounts to asking for the moon. The young, barring exceptions have no confidence in the words of wisdom, of the seniors, their forte. More the force in conveying their life’s lessons learnt by seniors, more the resistance by the young. Even as the seniors have the conviction to enlighten the young for facing life’s ups and downs, the target sections don’t seem to feel that the seniors are spreading light on their mental makeup.

Considering mental health as a significant and crucial factor in the present scenario, the initiative by an academic institution in organising a state-level workshop in Bengaluru last week to enlighten students and academicians on the application of psychology into various spheres of life is to be lauded as timely.