What are we to do about Ireland’s youth today? Such concern is hardly new. “Young people no longer respect their parents. They are rude and impatient. They frequently inhabit taverns and have no self-control,” were words, allegedly, found in a 6,000-year-old Egyptian tomb.
Plato, allegedly, said of young people in his day: “They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets, inflamed with wild notions.” Here’s Peter the Hermit, from medieval times, who, allegedly, said: “The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint ... As for the girls, they are forward, immodest and unladylike in speech, behaviour and dress.”
I use “allegedly” because every single one of those quotations has been disputed. The thing is, all are believable. Or, should I say, “....were believable”. It no longer applies in Ireland.
My main concern is that our young people are none of the above. They are just, well, too “good”. A report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development last December found that Irish 15-year-olds smoke less, drink less alcohol and exercise more than their European peers. Which is disgraceful.
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They have the lowest rate of smoking -7 per cent - in the EU and are lowest for cannabis smoking, at 4 per cent. As appalling is that the incidence of repeated drunkenness among them, at 13 per cent, is also one of the lowest in the EU. And they are in the top five for physical activity.
A slight redemption is that just 47 per cent of them eat neither fruit nor vegetables daily, below the EU average of 56 per cent. Pathetic, yes, but in desperation you’ll clutch at anything.
Even that consolation is “destroyed” by the finding that their consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks, at 8 per cent, is lower than the EU average of 14 per cent.
What is to become of them at all? Our young people are so well behaved they are missing out on their youth. Let’s face it, folks, they are a disgrace and a source of national embarrassment. They risk our hard-won reputation for hell-raising and being interesting. Plato, Peter, that anonymous Egyptian, ye should be living (here) at this hour.
Youth, from Old English geoguð.
