Avoiding the COPs: The ‘Cranky Old People’

This may be an eye-catching headline, but it’s not what you think. While I may try and avoid the local/state Constable on Patrol, avoiding the “COPs” is really about not becoming a Cranky Old Person!

As I head into my 60s, my wife and I have referenced trying not to become a constantly (we all have our moments) cranky old person. It seems the more we age or the more we are around older folks, the crankier they seem. Additionally, cranky is not relegated to age, but it does seem to creep in as we age.

Here are the COP behaviors we are trying our best to avoid.

Our Generation Is Better than Yours

This one drives me nuts, as I think the generations that have come after me have done world-changing things, and I mean world-changing. While every generation does things differently, it is a ‘fail’ to think mine or your generation is better than those that follow.

As a prime example, the generation(s) that came after me built and advanced the internet – wow!! The internet and all of the apps that make our lives immensely easier have come from a generation younger than mine.

• Driving apps: Does anyone get lost or need maps anymore?
• Health apps: Being able to aggressively manage our health and wellness.
• Social media: The ability to stay in touch with your circle of contacts and see what is happening out there.
• Music: Feel like listening to any song every recorded, from anywhere at any time.
• As we know, our cell phones are basically a supercomputer (and pretty damn good camera). You get it. The younger generation is just as good as ours, if not better.

These Younger Generations Are ‘Doomed’

Horse crap! Every generation has its challenges, and all that someone needs to do is be a student of history (or search the internet – see above) to learn every generation from the beginnings of time thought those that followed were in ‘trouble’ … and it all turned out OK. The younger generation has advances in health to look forward to that will keep them living longer and better. I am jealous that they will live longer and healthier than me, and I do not think they are doomed. The planet is getting warmer, but we and they will adapt. I am not trivializing this or living with blinders, but we will adapt.

The Good-Old-Days Lectures

As I believe Billy Joel wrote in a song, “The good ole days weren’t all that good, and tomorrow ain’t as bad as it seems.” Amen!

Each generation has their fun and finds the ways to do it. If my generation was playing wiffle ball or touch football in the street, while this generation is playing a video game with a kid halfway across the planet – amen! If this generation uses AI to make life easier and more efficient – amen! (BTW – I did not use AI to write this blog … but I could have … because of the younger generation).

This New Generation Is “Lazy”

Bull crap! While we can always single out the lazy ones, the goofy reality shows with the misfits that are in them, generally speaking, the new generations are grinding. My generation created a sort of economy where it is still harder for them to find jobs and grow.

Not making excuses for them, but they have dealt with 9-11, the global financial meltdown of 2008, and COVID. What did my generation have to deal with ….. a lot but not all of that. They are not lazy, but I would like to see fewer holding-of-hones and less procrastination, but there I go being a COP.

Generations that come after us have different ways of doing things … and that should make us happy, not cranky. Let’s get over ourselves and smile at what is to come from these ‘young folks.’

Originally posted on Forbes.com