Youth was wasted on our parents

It is 7.55 am and today is day 8 of my 17 day diet. I am awake, dressed and my teeth are brushed. I have consumed one fat free yogurt and a single cup of coffee with skimmed milk. And, despite the grey sky’s mutterings about sleet, snow and global warming at large, I HAVE JUST BEEN FOR A RUN.

My run lasted a brief 17 minutes and every second was a test of psychological endurance. This run is not a feature of a “healthy lifestyle”. In fact, woe-betide anyone who confuses this bizarre routine of self-flagellation for, “enjoyable exercise” that gives me a “natural buzz”. I do not relish fresh air. I detest all forms of loungewear. And, frankly, I’d bite your arm off for a croissant. Third year has trapped me within a hell of revision and essays, and with a fad diet in full swing, all that’s keeping me from the edge is a chocolate and orange flavoured Muller light. So, pleasantries established, you may well wonder what the hell I’m up to?!

Well, I am young and I am bitter; and, right now, I am on a ludicrous 17 day fad diet, consisting of largely yogurt, protein and running. Rest assured, the fad diet is only being mentioned as a product of perpetual hunger, (and to serve as an example later).  The real point here is that, for most of us, our youths are not what we were expecting. For our generation, youth isn’t wasted on the young. It was wasted on our parents. Student debt weighs heavy on our shoulders; tuition fees limit our opportunities for further study and youth unemployment looms outside the gates of graduation. A global financial meltdown and a double dip recession, mean that youth unemployment is now higher than ever before in living memory, with an estimated 83 applicants for every grad job! It is hard to remain young at heart when the world is so hostile.  We are expected to be shrewd, smart and calculating. We have no time for youth. The freedoms of fun and folly are the preserve of only a fortunate few these days.

There is no point skirting around the biggest issue here, tuition fees. Tuition fees have crippled our opportunities. Their heaviest burden? .The abolition of the freedom to start again! Todays youth can’t be young. We can’t f*** it up first time around, and give it another go. If, after a while we find that its not working out; if we’ve made bad choices and rash moves; if we find that we acted like the children we’d barely stopped being when we applied to UCAS and began our University careers- we’ve got to pay for it. This problem is compounded at the level of Post grad study.  To the average final year student, with maxed out overdraft and worn out jeans, postgraduate course prices beg belief. Whether intended to feed intellectual curiosity, differentiate a C.V., or provide directly employable qualifications, the figures make eyes water. In modern Britain, we have arranged a system where the doors to the best lives are unlocked by money, not merit. This bullet might be easier to bite, were it not for the fact that our parents and politicians got so much for free! Or, perhaps we might feel more confortable about approaching Howard Brown from the Halifax, to talk about tens of thousands of pounds if we had some faith in British, European, or even global economic stability. Nope, no such luck round here.

These may be “first world problems” of the highest order, but still. shouldn’t it be somebodies business to fix them? (Clegg? Cameron? Any offers?) We gave our youth away, before we even got our hands on it, and we won’t be getting it back! Yes, we still live in the developed world, and yes, its true that Britain isn’t populated by ghost towns like Detroit in America, but, this doesn’t take away from the fact that for today’s youth- the future is a fat free yogurt when all we want and deserve is a croissant!

We are not a lazy generation; we are willing to do what it takes. Most of us can see a route that will take us to where we want to be, and I hope that most of us will make it. However, aspiration can only take us so far. The amount we are being asked to do is just too much. For the time being, our generation can set about jumping through impossible hoops, chasing after the bright futures we deserve; but eventually, something’s got to give. Britain can handle a fad diet, 17 days of nothing but metaphorical yogurt and protein is manageable, the young can take a daily run in the economic rain, sleet and snow- for a while. We are tough enough to handle a short and sharp, painful detox and reorganisation after our elders’ decade long binge. But, if this burden on the young turns out to be more than a brief blip in British social history, and drifts towards a permanent reordering of society. Well, I wouldn’t like to say…