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Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Scenes unworthy of understanding
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Today’s column was supposed to be about a nonprofit group that helps kids get to college.
That will have to hold for another day.
Instead, I want to share four recent experiences.
Scene I
It’s Tuesday. My son and I are running errands and stop by a cleaners. A young woman stands on the sidewalk near the store. She smokes a cigarette and talks on a cellphone.
A car makes its way down the parking lot, heading for the exit.
The woman on the cellphone apparently knows the female driver. A friend, perhaps. When the car gets near, she yells a throaty greeting, loud enough to be heard all over town.
“Hey you f——— b——!” Says it twice. We hear it both times.
I look at my son and he looks at me. Then I look at the young woman. She thinks nothing of it, acts as if she just said “hello.”
Scene II
Different strip mall. Different day.
I’ve been Krogering. Two young men are walking alongside the Wal-Mart. One of the young men is wearing a tank top and a pair of shorts. His shorts are somewhere around his knees. His derrière, covered in boxers, is entirely exposed.
As I drive by the two young men, I look directly at the one showing his boxers, and shake my head. In my rear view, I see him stop, raise up, gesture, like he’s ready to throw down. But young people don’t fight much these days.
They shoot.
Scene III
I strike up a conversation with an algebra teacher from a local middle school. He tells me about the crazy stuff that goes on in schools, and one of the more ridiculous examples is how some students wear $300 to $400 outfits.
How does he know?
They tell him, man. They point to their Sean John sweaters and Jordan sneakers and rattle off prices that equal several weeks worth of groceries. And they’re proud.
They also tell him about the lyrics and videos they’re exposed to, and when he explains that he doesn’t tune in at home, they respond in disbelief.
After all, doesn’t everybody watch music videos?
Scene IV
It’s Saturday afternoon at the Taco Mac on Mountain Industrial Boulevard. I’m talking to a 40-something man, a divorced father of a middle or high school-aged daughter.
Initially, he asks who I think will win that night’s boxing match. Turns out he and I are cut from the same cloth. We couldn’t care less who wins, and watch from a distance the frenzy that takes over when events are promoted like the Second Coming.
Our conversation turns to this old world. He, like me, doesn’t know what to make of it. He’s discouraged, disconnected and disillusioned. I tell him the story from Scene I, about the young woman’s term of endearment for her friend.
He shakes his head.
“That’s the way [young people] talk to each other,” he tells me.
Maybe we’re getting old and because of that, we don’t get it. But even if that’s true, calling friends derogatory terms and wearing your pants half off your behind aren’t worth understanding. They’re degrading, symptoms of issues that run deeper than a love for what’s new, hip and popular.
So I ask you:
When it comes to society, us, our young people, do you ever wonder like me, like Marvin Gaye:
“What’s going on?”
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail rbadie@ajc.com.
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