Sugya Bhandari

Young adults often have conflict with parents. There would be less conflict if parents do not try to impose their views and tradition they have inherited from their seniors as norms and values of the society.
The conflict between younger and older generations is obvious. These issues of conflict might be different according to age, as we have different needs and priorities. Such a conflict is apparently of ideological nature. Our parents are members of the society and carry the beliefs that were taught to them systematically by the society. This may be because young people and old people differ on the matters like religion, morality and social norms.
In societies with deeply-rooted culture and traditions, the older generation may be reluctant to accept newer thoughts and practices. They may be less inclined to ideas of the younger generation which in turn may unleash generational conflicts. For the younger generation, the thought of rejecting older values and securing a better future is enticing.
The Soti case of Rukum is a case in point. Rukum was the hub of Maoist insurgency that aims at creating egalitarian society but heinous crime happened there due to the caste system that has been deeply rooted in society for thousands of years. The people who were involved in it knew very well this was a crime but their false conception of society could not enable them to stop the gory event.
In formal education and theory it has been taught that all human beings are equal. But the strict societal norms do not allow people to change themselves. When an individual holds views that are different from the existing social trends, they may have to be victim of psychological violence.
It is a pride of the youth to continue our culture but many of our social norms need timely changes. We do not want to be like bonsai whose branches are rigid, roots have limitations and branches lack flexibility when we try to move a branch of a bonsai tree, it breaks rather than being flexible.
Once when I had coffee talks with my friend, he said that if he tries to make his home restriction free for female members during menstruation, there might even be bitter conflict because his parents would not accept it. We don’t want to be on same path of suffering and making others suffer. We want to be like a free growing tree which holds the earth firmly and whose branches extend freely towards sunlight.
Instead of upholding obsolete social beliefs, we want to follow the ingenious Vedic philosophies developed by our sages, adding new knowledge just like new twigs on a tree’s branches. Culture and traditions are for the wellbeing of people and it should be as per the convenience of all people. So here I want to quote Prof Dr. Prem Mishra, who says: “Culture can be produced and reproduced’. So elder generation should not impose what they assume to be their culture on their younger generation.