Boomers v Millennials: let’s call off the hostilities | The Guardian

This is one fight we can all do without right nowSometimes your past leaves you poorly equipped for the present: mine has left me intensely conflict-averse. I grew up in frictionless harmony with my single mother, later joined by my stepfather, the gentlest man in the world. Seven years in Quaker school only reinforced my peacenik tendencies: the lovely Quaker belief that everyone is imbued with divine Inner Light (think spiritual Ready Brek) meant that the only conflict I recall there was over whether culottes were acceptable school wear.It is a problem. I can’t watch an argumentative reality show or read a peeved email – even addressed to someone else! – without quivering dread, and a minor spat gives me a week-long fight hangover. I have no particular reserves of forbearance: I just turn my anger and resentment inwards, fomenting something that will eventually become a gigantic ulcer. Continue reading…

This is one fight we can all do without right now

Sometimes your past leaves you poorly equipped for the present: mine has left me intensely conflict-averse. I grew up in frictionless harmony with my single mother, later joined by my stepfather, the gentlest man in the world. Seven years in Quaker school only reinforced my peacenik tendencies: the lovely Quaker belief that everyone is imbued with divine Inner Light (think spiritual Ready Brek) meant that the only conflict I recall there was over whether culottes were acceptable school wear.

It is a problem. I can’t watch an argumentative reality show or read a peeved email – even addressed to someone else! – without quivering dread, and a minor spat gives me a week-long fight hangover. I have no particular reserves of forbearance: I just turn my anger and resentment inwards, fomenting something that will eventually become a gigantic ulcer.

Continue reading…