Old Ways Die Hard

The 1920’s were considered America’s teenage years with the introduction of modernism being the final catalyst that split the new generation from the old ways. At the time, with the invention of the flapper dress, the childish use of alcohol, with the idea of spending large amounts of money they didn’t own was obviously frowned upon by the earlier years but it had me thinking, are we seeing another resurgence of that now with the culture exhibited by millennials and Gen Z? If you haven’t heard by now, the vote to legalize marijuana in the US is fast approaching and the commercials for pro supporters and the opposers have clouded my social media feed enough for me to blog about it. You have the obvious parents voicing their disapproval with words like “think of the children” and “is this the kind of America you want to grow up in?”. And then you have the supporters with the popular phrase “make America green again!” call me crazy, but reading The Great Gatsby has shown me a rather unsuspecting comparison between the two.

Now granted, showy female apparel, bad money management skills and illegal cannabis are completely different topics to be compared but this post is to compare the obvious divide between morals. We laugh at the struggle the older generation had to go through in order to keep women's knees and shoulders completely covered now, but if the vote passes will the future human race be doing the same thing with this argument now? Will this possible history defining decision fly over the future adolescent's heads during history class as just another harmless bump in the road? Or the launching point for a whole new set of standards and ideals?

Looking at it that way, I guess the concern isn't whether we legalize it or not, but what repercussions our choice will have. Will we need to start printing out "don't drive while high" posters along with the drinking and driving, texting and driving, and distracted while driving? Will we need to start teaching new drivers what to expect when high driving becomes a variable to fear on the road? Personally I don't think the output is worth all of the stress but maybe i'm just overthinking something that will become relatively simple forty years from now. Although if I have to leave off any note, let it be this: maybe there was a good reason that it's been illegal all this time, maybe doing things just because it's what the majority wants isn't always the best idea.

Yours truly
Connor