I am born in the 90s, and Xiao Wu is born in the 00s. In fact, we are only six years apart, but I feel like there is a deep generation gap between us. I really can't understand or accept some of his ideas.
It was time to make dinner, so I asked Xiao Wu to buy a bottle of sesame oil from the supermarket at the door, while I peeled the potatoes. About ten minutes later, when I came out, I saw Xiao Wu still lying on the bed playing with his mobile phone.
"I asked you to buy something and I haven't left yet. I just went there and now I have to come back. What a habit, procrastination, nothing like a man."
"Don't be like this. Ah, I'm just a child." After that, he got up and went out. But I stayed in the room.
For more than a month, I don’t know how many times I heard the sentence “I’m just a child” from Xiao Wu. I don’t know if it’s my own fault, but I felt an unprecedented feeling. I remember that people of my generation, when they were 15 years old, often said the words "I am a man" on their lips. His youthful face and stubborn yet confident tone always aroused "ridicule" from the uncles and aunts around him. Looking back on it now, I still feel strange. In short, at that time, we always wanted to prove that we were a man or a man. There are dozens of boys in the class, no matter they are good students or bad students, they don't like to be called just children. But when it comes to Xiao Wu’s post-00s generation, it seems that man is a very despised word.
I said: "He is procrastinating in doing things, and he is submissive in what he says. He is so old, fifteen or sixteen years old, does he look like a man?" "No, I'm not a man, I'm just a child." He always answered me this way. I don't care that he is playing some word games. I was thinking: Have times really changed? The young man, who is over 1.7 meters tall, always uses "I'm just a kid" as an excuse. Thinking about it, I don’t think it’s right. Xiao Wu is a relatively obedient child. This situation makes me wonder if most boys are like this now. What a terrible thing.
If we are talking about our generation, when we were fifteen or sixteen years old, we always said that we were a man. It was for the sake of face, for the extremely weak self-esteem, or because we really had the consciousness of being a man in our hearts, even if we still didn’t. Very young, very immature, but no matter what, it is better to "self-proclaimed" a man than a "child", isn't it? But in Xiao Wu's generation, there seems to be no such thing at all. Even if he is bragging in front of girls, he will never say the words "I am a man". A boy is really just a boy.
I talked about this with a close friend, and the friend was also sad. "What can you do? Times have really changed. Do you think we are still in the era when a group of children shouted, 'We are all men, who is afraid of whom?' and started fighting in groups? We still brag in front of female classmates, 'I am a man.' Times? Times are different. Most people today grew up in the same environment as Xiao Wu. This phenomenon is normal, and my brother said it more seriously: their awakening of manhood is delayed. "Listen. After that I fell silent. After all, boys born in different environments are different. Likewise, boys are different when they grow up and become men. Is this a good or bad situation? It seems I worry too much. Different conditions require different paths.
"I am a man"
"I am just a child"
But having said that, no matter what era, boys must have the ability to be men Enlightenment, isn't it?