Iceberg Dead Ahead: The Future Generation

By April 16, 2012

Titanic is one of my favorite movies. I don’t know if it’s Leo, the graphics or Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On,” but one or a combination of different film elements set my imagination loose the first time I saw Titanic, and it’s been one of my “desert island” movie picks ever since.

I have heard a lot of fuss lately about kids on Facebook and Twitter that didn’t know that James Cameron’s film rendition of that horrible Titanic crash that claimed 1,500 lives was real, so I did some investigation.

I read numerous articles that confirmed the rumor I had heard – there are a multitude of teenagers in the U.S. that believe the film is fictional.

At first, I was a little confused. I don’t remember a time when I didn’t know what the Titanic crash was. It seemed to be just to be a part of knowledge that people were born with. I couldn’t fathom it.

Many have been quick to jump on today’s teens, accusing them as sloths that don’t care enough to read or get a solid education.

There’s some ground for debate there. It does seem like we’ve had a bit of a youth fallout lately, but it’s not fair to judge it based on whether or not teens knew of a ship crash 100 years ago.

In a time when cursive is dying, geography is lost and obesity is infinitely gaining, people are worried about the Titanic?

Here is my simple answer. If teens cared, they would know about it. Our teens aren’t vapid; they simply care about different subjects.

In fact, I’d be slow to attack our teens for not knowing the historical significance behind Titanic, because our teens go through personal Titanic moments every day.

We’ve all had that moment. We’ve hit the iceberg. Our hearts are split, we broke an arm or maybe we’re buried under homework – Titanic.

For instance – marriage rates, they are horrendous. Who does this often affect but our teens. Our teens who are often pent up with anxiety and aggression are facing this every day.

Families are being ripped apart left and right, and people are worried about whether or not our teens know the historical significance behind a film. This is what’s disheartening to me.

There are “adults,” “grown-ups,” who today’s teens are supposed to be looking up to that would criticize our growing, young adults for not understanding a piece of history that can be best characterized as pop culture.

Tell me this, how many of these “intellectuals,” know the site of the end of the American Revolution? Can one of these “role models” even tell me where the American Revolution started?

I’d feel safe making a bet that most of our teens do.

The question that is bothering me the most is how many of these movers and shakers, who are wasting their time criticizing others, are actually doing something about their problems?

At some point, we all face our crucible. It could be the hardest decision that you’ve consciously made. For so many people, there are events in our lives that are seen as our “Titanic.”

While our teens may not know of the worst ship crash in history, they are at least committed to something. Every day our teens decide to truck through their personal crisis. We have a bright group of kids coming to take our place at UA one day, we ought to be building them up, not tearing them down.

 

Joe Kieklak is a Traveler columnist. 

His column appears every other Monday. 

  • Maltz

    You’re comparing the senseless deaths of over 1,500 people (almost half as many people as died on 9/11) to… divorce, broken hearts, and homework?  Pop culture??  People (of any age) such as yourself may or may not be vapid, but you clearly have a stunning lack of perspective.

    Oh, and the American revolution started with the so-called “shot heard ’round the world” in Lexington, and effectively ended with the British surrender at Yorktown.  And it’s Schoolhouse Rock and various history classes (that I actually paid attention to) that I have to thank for that knowledge, not Google.

  • grish

    I completely disagree with the comment below.  Not only does this column show “perspective,” it also asks an important question. Why are people in this country so quick to pull down our teens… who are learning and growing… rather than build them up at a time when they need it the most? The comment below is a prime illustration of exactly that.

    The focus of the column isn’t to minimize the tragedy of the Titanic, it’s to point out the larger tragedy that’s going on today. Teenagers have a lot to deal with in 2012, and they’re doing it in a world that is more complicated than ever before in history, but every time they make a misstep, someone is there to criticize them.  

    I find it ironic that the comment compares the accidental death of 1500 people 100 years ago, to the murder of more than 3000, in the worst terrorist attack to ever occur on U.S. soil. In my opinion, this is what shows a “stunning lack of perspective.” The Titanic, while tragic, is more in line with the Dona Paz passenger ferry that sank in the Phillipines. More than 1500 people died in that tragedy, and in spite of it taking place just 25 years ago, it doesn’t receive 1 hundredth of the recognition reserved for Titanic. The column is right… like it or not, Titanic has become part of our “pop culture.”

    It seems to me that we should all think before we tear down a group of people who are learning and expanding their horizons. It’s possible, that by constantly criticizing our teens, we run the risk of sinking the Titanic that represents our future. 

    Shame on you for being another shining example of the very problem the column dares to condemn.