At the Dietrich by Hildy Morgan
So. You know all those folks who say that kids today are spoiled and lazy and kinda dumb and our poor country will sure be in a mess when those lame-brains take over? There are even pundits on television who seem to make a life’s work out of telling us what exceptional children they were (hard working, followed all the rules, always respectful etc. etc. blah blah blah.) They drone on telling us how easy kids have it today and how worthless they all are, hooked up to their iphones and unable to hold a real conversation and why oh why oh can’t they be like we were, back in the time when the world was perfect. To which, of course, I say – fiddlesticks! You people going on about our kids not measuring up just don’t know any kids. You ought to talk to one or two sometime.
Now, you may rightly wonder, what brought on that little outburst. Two things, I guess. First is that we have all those great kids working at the Dietrich, and when you talk to them, see how quirky and funny and hard working they are, they just melt your heart! From our very first Dietrich kids (and they were: Ryan Alfieri, Mark Fetzko and Caroline Nichols) I was in the tank for our kids. I was talking to Ronnie Harvey yesterday about that first batch (he followed pretty closely behind when Margie “discovered” him at a local grocery store and said “you really have to bring him to the Dietrich because he’s a perfect fit here”) of kids and how they set the gold standard for all that would follow. Polite, charming, smart as whips, kind and so hard working. They went on to great careers, golden (I hope) lives.
And although I’m not always as familiar with the kids we have today, I love to see them and their smiling faces. And I am always awed by how friendly they are, how if you take a minute or two, they’re willing to talk to you, chat about anything even if you are soooo old that they’re sure they’ll never live to be that old and must be filled with wonder that we can still breathe on our own. So, I’m always interested in what they’re reading. And yes, kids today do read! The young adult book market is the biggest in the publishing business – teens read voraciously, and what they are reading is a book called The Fault In Our Stars by John Greene. So I thought, ok. I’ll give it a try. (Besides, Ronnie had read it on Friday and loved it.) So I ordered it on my Kindle and thought to myself, so if I don’t like it, it didn’t cost that much.
But I loved it. The sweet story of two teenagers stricken with terminal cancer, it is honest and funny and smart, and will shatter your heart in a million, trillion pieces. It’s about life and who gets to live it. It’s about hopes and dreams that will never happen. It’s about how much sweeter each moment is if those moments will be finite because your body isn’t going to be here much longer. The movie will be released in a couple of weeks, and hopefully it will stick to script, because the script needs no improvement.
But here’s what I wanted to say about the kids that are so often maligned by grumpy old farts: they’re spectacular. Just look at what they read? The Hunger Games, Divergent…and so many more. And what do they talk about, these books they read? They talk about a world they don’t fit into, or bodies that fail, or an environment that is crumbling to hell faster than it can be fixed. These kids know life on this planet isn’t going to be any joyride, and they know they will be called upon to be extraordinary. And you know what? When you talk to them, when you hear this marvelous mix of hope and cynicism that is the modern teen, you know they’re up to it. They’re gonna be okay. And if you disagree, try something revolutionary. Talk to them. Just talk to them. You will be enlightened, I promise you.
See you at the Dietrich.
P.S. Don’t forget the wondrous Jazz Concert at the Dietrich on Sunday. It’s going to be soooo good! You’re going to really hate yourselves if you don’t come to see it. Really, you will. I know that for a fact.
PSS – Don’t forget Godzilla!!! Soooo good!!!!!
