Loss of citizenship?

Did your friend have any examples of what he considered to be our failures to'give back'?

Many older people are volunteers with almost every public service charity in the country. Most charities would collapse without them. Many have given money or remortgaged their houses to get their children on the property ladder.

Many are helping to finance universities fees for grandchildren. Even more spend long hours looking after grandchildren so that parents can work.

Many do not own their own houses as they never could afford it and now live on basic pension or pension credit. Many of these still do days a week of childcare and manage to volunteer with charities

What else did your friend think we should be doing?

Interesting point harry ( you aren’t that Harry are you?)?
I don’t think I agree with your friend though, our generation still has a sense of citizenship, but then I think all the other generations do as well.Plenty of selfish sorts around but also those who quietly get on with helping their local communities as well, people of all ages get involved in my village.
Raising money for charity through clubs, litter picking days,
Helping in charity shops or community shops are all good ways to ‘give back’.

Thanks for the replies @lemongrove and @M0nica.

It was simply an interesting debate with a friend. I agree many of us do volunteer with charities and litter pick etc...

It made me think are there other things we can do ie more mentoring? And why don't we do it? If there was money involved, do you think more people would teach the next gen...

For me, I feel like I could mentor, but I'm not sure where to find them and not sure what I could add

I struggled to buy a house in the early 80s.

Sky high interest rates. Mortgages almost always came with extortionate Top Ups and Endowments.

I remember my Grandma saying she had no idea how the young could buy a house.

I was extremely lucky because in the end my parents gave us some money for the deposit.

But it wasn't easy.

We had very little furniture. No curtains in the bedroom for months. Bean bags in the living room. My grandparents second hand bed. Parent's old TV.

So I'm not sure that life was that simple for younger people.

Today us grandparents help look after grandchildren. Many are involved with local issues and charities.

Good and bad with all generations.

I just wish ‘they’ would stop telling us how lucky we are and how easy we had things.
I can’t be bothered to go through all the reasons but DH and I worked damned hard for what we have and so do our family. We volunteer and help others when we can .

We didn’t have it easy, most of us left school a 15 or 16 and got a job, we either learned on the job or went to day release or evening classes to qualify. Buying a house was hard but because we were working longer we could save for a deposit while we were living at home, then with interest rates much higher peaking at 12%+. Rents were more affordable because demand was less, since then successive governments have neglected social housing for short term gain.

I am 66 years old and a much more active citizen than my parents or grandparents were, or than my adult children are now.

As for 'giving back'? Well, to be honest I don't think I actually 'took' that much in the first place, but since I was in my early twenties there has never been a time when I've not been involved in unpaid community or voluntary work. I live life as ethically as I can and purposefully to my best to 'make a difference'.

I have no responsibility to 'give back' to this generation, but I do accept that environmentally there is a case to answer. When I first heard of CFCs in 1980 I was slow to understand the implications of human activity on climate change, but even then I embraced my new found knowledge and have tried to live sustainably ever since.

I don't understand the mention of young people not being able to buy a house. I live in an area which has had a recent boom of house-building. Two years ago, I lived next to a field, now I look out of my window and see a brick wall. All the houses were occupied as soon as they were completed, and all by young families. (All the houses are to buy not rent).

As for citizenship, it's not encouraged, is it? It is equated now with patriotism and that has become synonymous with being far-right and racist.

Clearly life always looks easy when viewed from the outside. I don't think we had it easy we both worked full time to buy a house 30+ miles away from home and had to commute to work while paying interest rates of 15%. We had lower expectations, we didn't expect to have everything mum and dad had right from the start. Yes we got there but it took time. Everything I've ever had I've worked hard for but when I pop my clogs I'll leave my sons a substantial inheritance whereas I didn't get a bean when my parents died. They certainly won't struggle to buy anywhere my Dil has already had an inheritance from her Nan. They had their first cars bought for them which I never had. Plus we'll never see them struggle. I just think every generation is different, I never had to live through a war, my parents did but I certainly hope there'll be no more wars like ww2. They blame us for ruining the planet as though we did it intentionally but most of us were unaware but are now doing all we can to help.

Harry mentoring is not for everyone. It is a role that needs knowledge, commitment and the righ type of personality. Not everyone who wants to do it is accepted.

When it comes to houses; houses were cheaper because interest rates were so high. I can remember, after one interest rate hike half our fousehold income went to pay the mortgage.

Next time some clueless youg individual moans on suggest to them that if interest rates were increased to 10%, house prices would fall and (theoretically) they would be able to buy a house. It generally brings them up short.

That is “your friend’s “ opinion - but what is yours ?

We were able to buy our first house because we lived with our respective parents before we got married rather than renting like the young do now. Therefore we were able to save hard for the deposit.

Yes house prices compared to salaries are higher these days but the younger generation could do more to help themselves get on the property ladder.

It was a struggle for us too but we made sacrifices which I feel many aren’t prepared to do now.