This is one topic I felt like I wanted to write down here. It's all about the boomer generation with people resistant to change. Boomers are typically born from 1946 to 1964. Having been a millennial (born 1991-1996) meant there were changes that would happen. Some things that are common today were luxuries yesterday. It was during the 1990s to early 2000s. I could remember being stuck with some obsolete technology back in the 2000s. It was a real challenge (actually) since I had to deal with a lot of boomers. A lot of boomers held the seats of authority. They can be parents, uncles, aunties, caretakers, and teachers just to name a few.
I remembered wanting to have a personal computer. It was rather a convenient tool actually. I simply wanted to have that PC because it made encoding easier. What would the typical boomers say? Well, they say, "Back in our day, we had a typewriter so stop complaining and use the typewriter just like we did!" Then they get mad when the typewritten report was haphazardly done. I remembered how the typewriter hurt my fingers then I was told in vernacular, "You're just lazy! Just do it! Stay up late! It can't hurt and wouldn't kill you!" Seriously? It wasn't until I had a PC (but was stuck with a dying PC) that I was able to do work better. Yet back then, a PC was mighty expensive and the Internet would take away the dial tone. Today, I could receive calls while typing this entry!
The Internet went all the way from a luxury to a necessity. I remembered wanting to get a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL). What kind of response was easily there? It's typical to say, "Back in our day... we lived without Internet. Stop being a whiner and get used to dial-up!" Dial-up was becoming more and more obsolete. Dial-up cards were becoming a thing of the past during that time. Yet, some people back then were still arguing about not getting the DSL because it was "so expensive". Even if people can tell stuff like, "As you see, the benefit of the DSL is that we can use the Internet while you use the phone." They'll argue how much cheaper it is to just take turns. Never mind that the business world today is now more Internet reliant than ever.
Dealing with a housekeeper who was so resistant to change was very annoying. She was offered to replace her obsolete, dying light bulb with a new one. She just kept complaining and complaining about new technology. She was offered a better iron and she complained. I guess it's because she was from the province or what? Granted, she's a typical boomer so it's a real problem. It was so hard to convince her how it works better. She was just saying it in Visayan, "We were already used to it!" She also had the bad habit of saying in Visayan, "If it's bitter then just add sugar to it."
Maybe, the same can be true about renewable energy and solar lights. Sadly, it's a very common thing when some boomers will brag they were able to do without it. Again, the "back in our day" talk. They could talk about the use of petroleum lamps. Back in the 1990s, I remembered having petroleum lamps during Typhoon Ruping. However, we were condemned to utter darkness during the night because we had to turn them off. Are they really that proud of the stench of the petroleum lamps which are fire hazards? Would they rather condemn themselves to darkness than accept new technology? I was even asking if they ever enjoyed being in such extreme inconvenience.
I think the same can be for education. Some people had their degrees at age 19 to 20 years old. I was always getting intimidated when people say they got into the business at only 19-20 years old and married in their early 20s. It reminds me of how the Philippines was stuck with K+10 for a very long time. After six years of grade school, we had four years of high school. I remembered complaining day in and day out high school was tough. However, some boomers will always say, "Well, back in our day." Yeah, I get it all right. Yet, the big issue is that they don't realize lessons have to get harder for a reason. They don't realize that what they learned would be considered outdated today. Can you imagine if famous mathematicians such as Isaac Newton were never born? Without Newtonian calculus, I will never be able to enjoy the evolution of technology.
Even worse is if these boomers had a good track record in an outdated educational system. While reading From Third World to First--I was reminded of the late Lee Kuan Yew's observation of China's outdated education system. What's the use of being a valedictorian if the books in your school are so nineteen-forgotten? Reading about how academic textbooks were left obsolete because of Mao Zedong's rule was one. It's a good thing that Deng Xiaoping decided to upgrade the Chinese education system. The massive change in education was also part of China's real Great Leap Forward. It wasn't just Deng's introduction of free markets. It was also that Deng upgraded the education system.
It's no wonder why some businesses will fail. It's because traditional methods aren't always going to work. If your business booms then the more you need technology. Today, we've got Foodpanda and Grab to do delivery services. I couldn't imagine what if some restaurants never upgraded. I couldn't imagine the unthinkable mess it'd have. Can you imagine if a restaurant refuses to upgrade its comfort rooms, kitchens, and whatever they need to upgrade? It'd become a very horrible place that will not be inviting to customers. If they keep using outdated cash registers--can they really give receipts properly to customers? Yet, the founders will still want to brag, "Back in our day." Okay, I get it but isn't it that their glory days are over?
I'm no saying we should forget the lessons of the past. History is a lesson we should all learn from. It's one thing to learn from history. It's another thing to get stuck in the past. We learn about scientific updates to appreciate what we have today. We learn about Louis Pasteur's discovery. However, we allowed Pasteur's discovery to develop into better vaccines than what he had. Pasteur was a man who embraced change. Some people who mocked him didn't. Some boomers are probably too stuck with the past. Fortunately, some boomers are becoming more accepting of change while giving wise caution about what not to do.