This past week, I was just so impressed by some younger people. I had occasion to sit at a dinner table with some 20-somethings, and the conversation ranged all over the place -- from making hard decisions on finding yourself and defining goals, being brave enough to have really tough conversations with parents, to some fun and esoteric science topics, to current events in the world where they had thoughtful positions and knew the news to back up what they thought. It was entirely enjoyable! I also had occasion to see them joking and joshing each other, which would have made them seem immature and silly, except that it was plainly raucous good fun.
It was an excellent reminder to me that when I write younger characters that I can give them extraordinary depth, and not just rely on some shallow concept that they haven't experienced enough of the world to form thoughtful convictions.
Also, it made me very hopeful for the future. There's often sentiment floating about how the newer generations just aren't good enough, or are ruining things, or whathaveyou, and I'm sure that's true of certain delinquent individuals, but overall, I think the younger generation is going to overwhelm us all with their intelligence, perseverance, general industriousness, and warmheartedness.
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