「近ごろの若者は・・・問題だ。」との言い回しは、古代エジプトの昔から使われていたとの説がある。その出典は明らかではないが、肝心なのはこうした文句が大昔から本当に存在していたのかではなくて、この文句に潜む本質であろう。つまり、人間は、古今東西を問わず、若者とシニアとの間に世代間ギャップを抱えている。そしてその格差は負の側面でもあると思う。先日、同じ電車に乗っていた大学生風の若者に目がとまった。混んだ電車で足を組んで座り、その耳につけたヘッドホンからは高音量で音楽が周りに漏れている。降車後、傘の柄を握った腕を、子供の目の高さに届かんばかりにまで、振りながら路上を歩く。どこまで一緒かと思ったら、同じ大学の構内に入る始末で、しまいには吸っていたタバコを地面に投げ捨てて教室棟に入っていく。「よし、これはやはり注意せねば」と勇んで後ろから彼に声をかけようと近づきながらも、結局やめてしまった。
注意して逆ギレされるのが怖かったのではない。冒頭の一説が脳裏を急に過ったのである。あげくに「今の自分に彼の行為を諌めるだけの資格があるだろうか」などと、いらぬ心配までしたのには訳がある。若者が時代や大人を映す鏡であるのは、今も昔も大して変わらないだろう。いい大人が件の彼と同じような振舞いをしている光景は、今日珍しくもない。昔だったら、立派な大人が若者たちに遠慮なく説教を垂れていたのではなかろうか。その意味で、自分もいい反省の機会をもらったと妙に得心してしまったからである。
AI translation, cross-checked between two models.
There is a theory that the expression “Young people these days... are a problem” has been used since the days of ancient Egypt. Its source is unclear, but what matters is not whether this complaint really existed in ancient times, but the underlying truth contained in it. In other words, regardless of time or place, human beings have always had a generation gap between the young and seniors. And I believe that gap has a negative side as well. The other day, my attention was drawn to a young man who looked like a university student riding the same train. He sat with his legs crossed on the crowded train, while music from his headphones leaked out loudly enough for everyone around him to hear. After getting off the train, he walked down the street swinging the arm holding his umbrella handle almost as high as a child's eye level. I wondered how far we would continue in the same direction, only for him to enter the grounds of the same university; to top it off, he tossed the cigarette he had been smoking onto the ground and went into the classroom building. Thinking, “All right, I really ought to say something about this,” I eagerly approached him from behind to call out to him, but in the end I stopped myself.
It was not because I was afraid he might turn on me angrily if I reprimanded him. Rather, the saying at the beginning of this piece suddenly flashed through my mind. I even ended up worrying unnecessarily, “Am I, as I am now, really qualified to admonish him for his behavior?”—and there was a reason for that. Young people have probably always been mirrors reflecting their times and the adults around them; in that respect, little has changed. Nowadays, it is hardly unusual to see fully grown adults behaving just like the young man in question. In the old days, wouldn't respectable adults have freely lectured young people without hesitation? In that sense, I found myself strangely satisfied that I too had been given a good opportunity for self-reflection.
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