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I see a lot of older people on the CR complaining about chutzpa.
It makes me wonder if there is a reason younger people today have more chutzpa.
So, my landlord is painting our house, and says we should keep the windows closed because the old paint has lead.
Well, then I realized. Lead poisoning harms intelligence. The older generation today grew up exposed to lead.
So we really are smarter. Now, that may not excuse chutzpa, but it does explain it.
You just have to wonder if the effects carried over to the next generation…hmmmmmmmmm
Of course when we analyze a middah or characteristic of any generation, you have to take into account the personalities and characteristics of that country/city of that time. For example, German jews are known to be impeccably exact, and strictly on time, etc, because thats how the German society was. So when you look at OUR cynical, lazy, technologically advanced, laid back, frivolous generation, is it no wonder kids these days ‘don’t give a darn’ and are chutzpadik!?!
In addition, when we were young and would have the gall to utter something impolite/inappropriate or just plain-old-fashion chutzpa to somebody, even if it wasn’t our relative, we would be screamed at, and “put into our place” VERRRY quick.
When my wife at the bungalow colony told the other kids to please be careful at the pool there are little 2 yr olds that are getting splashed on, they anwered her back with such chutzpa, and completely ignored her continuing to act wildly and totally disregarding other little kids around! My wife was appalled(to say the least!) and she approached their mothers who leisurely told them to behave and then laughed it off as if it was all a big joke! Parents are not helping the situation either, and especially in this generation, need to teach children importance of respecting elders.
If I would do THAT as a kid, my mother would slap me!! And I definitely wouldn’t answer back some other kid’s MOTHER!
Kids these days are just so exposed to such open garbage, to frivolous trivia, and seeing how our society dresses/speaks/acts, they get this mentality that nothing is serious, nothing really matters. anything goes. I can say what I want, dress how I want, and do what I want. Kedusha, respect, and modesty – if parents/teaches/rabbeim don’t etch their importance into their brains, kids will get R”L swept away by society’s corrupt behaviour.
Do you agree?
I find it interesting to note that many, many kids don’t even know what’s considered chutzpah and what isn’t. It’s quite another story than when a kid is aware that he’s being disrespectful but does so anyway.
Anyone else see that? Would you say that this is a reflects a change in chinuch these days?
And what our kids are exposed to…
Popa, for those older people back then the lead paint was freshly applied and unblemished. Its only toxic if ingested or inhaled. That happens when it flakes (ingested) or is aerosolized (inhaled dust). This became an issue with old, compromised lead paint. Like in the 70’s or 80’s. Its more likely that you grew up with lead dust and flakes. Maybe your really not smarter.
It is very easy to see where kids learn chutzpahdig behavior. My son was on a school bus ride home, when another boy started beating up on a smaller boy. My son, being who he is, came up to them, and got in the middle to stop the bigger boy from hitting the other one. The bigger boy grabbed my son’s glasses and deliberately twisted them to break them. Meanwhile, my son’s intervention DID stop the fight (the bus driver did nothing,and we later complained to the school about this).
When we called the parents of the bully to ask them what they would like to do about their son’s actions, the mother replied,
“That will teach your son to mind his own business! Next time, tell him to butt out!” It was obvious that the apple fell right near this tree. No remorse, no embarrassment for such behavior, MY child was the problem, because he didn’t stand by as another kid was being beaten.
If it was my child who behaved so badly I would be mortified, and want to know how we could make amends. And THEN I would make my son pay for the broken glasses (they didn’t), and ground him for fighting. I would probably also make him apologize to the kid he picked on, though now that I consider that, that might actually make things worse for the kid who was bullied.
Oy, Oomis. Your post has so much truth to it.
This is a real sad thread… we definitely are doing something wrong! As hard as we try.. For example, chutzpa is never tolerated in my house but I can’t say my children are as respectful with elders as much as i would like. My husband blames the exposures the kids get today.
If we did something “wrong” the whole neighborhood found out including every relative in a 50 mile radius. We were so embarrassed that we wouldn’t even think twice about doing that particular behavior again. We would too embarrassed to even apologize for what we did.
Personally, I think the tuition spent on those that have no derech eretz is a big waste…Derech Eretz Kadmah L’Torah….
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