XO shape or bend a tree, the way we please the tree has to ung and supple. To attempt to bend the branch of an old tree will probably result in breaking it. So it is with man.

A young child's values, attitudes and Abilities can be shaped and bent under favorable condiUons. To make an old man change his values and attitudes is an almost impossible task. His mind is too set and rigid with age and not receptive to new things. He would probably break if we try too hard to change him.

Our modern world is changing at an enormous pace. New things appear and die like mushrooms that sprout for a day. A new song that becomes a top hit today becomes old and jaded in a matter of weeks. Only young people can handle these accelerated changes. The young sees the world as an exciting place of new things. The old? through the- eyes of experience and acquired values, sees the world as a madly changing place full of threats and moral upheaval.

Nowadays we have rock music, new wave. punk, gays and other social changes. A young person may accept these things without question and treat them as part of life. An older person is profoundly shocked and angered at this "deterioration" of social valuer

This can between the

young and the old seems to be increasing. To shorten such gaps both have a part to play. We must try to co-operate and understand one another. In my opinion the elders are playing their parts, but the youngsters (especially the teenagers) are rowdy and disobedient. You may be wondering why 1 myself being a teenager am saying this.

Well truth can never be hidden. When you talk on the Ehone with your girlfriend >r five hours just before an exam or maybe go out even before your fourteen 1 think it's quite natural for your parents to protest. You misunderstand them and think who are they to tell you to stop doing something when you want .to do it. But think again. It is them who brought you up. them who pays for your education and ft is because of them that you are still living on the face of this earth. They have all the right to tell you not to do something and when they do so please listen to them, for they are experienced and theycare and love you.

The gap is widening and if we do not stop it from doing so there will only be despair, heartbreak and family conflicts. It Is up to the old to accept the young, love them and guide them with their wisdom. It is also up to the young to accept the old. love them and be guided where necessary. Ufe should continue but the gap must end here.