Changing Times
“…Come mothers and
fathers throughout the land
And don’t criticize
what you can’t understand
Your sons and your
daughters are beyond your command
Your old road is
rapidly agin’
Please get out of
the new one if you can’t lend your hand
For the times they
are a-changin’”
Bob Dylan (excerpt
from “The Times They Are A-Changin’” released in 1989)
Bob
Dylan was given the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016 “for having created
new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.” At the
time, people were astonished that he was chosen, but if you take the time to
read all the Dylan’s lyrics from the 1960’s and 70’s, you will understand. He
composed songs both deep and complex, that sent a message about the world’s
truths and absurdities. This one was written in the 1960’s and rewritten several
times. It was originally released in 1989 but could just as easily be about today.
To my
mind, the millennial generation is the most misunderstood of any in my
lifetime. They are smart, openminded, focused and intelligent in ways that we
in the boomer generation were not. They are awake and worldly, and free of the
prejudices and ignorance that our generation seems still bogged down in. The
changes to civil rights that we enacted in the 1960’s worked to their benefit, even
if our generation failed utterly to live up to their promise. They are
community-involved and non-materialistic. They will make great and generous
leaders.
The
times have changed—though some days it’s hard to see. The senate hearings for Judge
Ketanji Jackson demonstrated just how much we’ve changed and where the fault
lines still lie. She, herself, laid out the timeline for that change—from her grandparents
who lived in the Jim Crow era, parents who were educated but still limited as
to where they could live and work, and she, who was being vetted for a seat on the
Supreme Court. Her daughter was also there—beautiful, inter-racial, and so
proud of her mother. Great change comes slowly, but when it comes, its impact
is immediate and resounding.
We had
a saying in the 1960’s and 70’s that is still appropriate: “Keep the faith,
brother.” Keep believing in us; keep believing that the arc of history
bends in the direction of greater freedom and acceptance. We aren’t there yet,
by any means, but we are headed in the right direction. I think the war in Ukraine
shows us what the leadership of young people can do. They will lead with less
personal ambition, and more heart because they have learned that it’s okay to
feel what they feel and express it even if they happen to be men. It is not
weakness, it is strength. That’s one of the perks of gender equality—it goes
both ways. Women can lead with strength and integrity and men can lead with
warmth and empathy. My generation has bloodied itself gaining equality at every
turn, and our children benefit from our efforts. And isn’t that what it's all
about? Isn’t that the “better life” we want for them?
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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