Teenage Mafia
It has become apparent that there are only two groups of people who aren't allowed to congregate in large groups: teenagers and Mafia types.
No disrespect to the Mafia, of course; I want to live past tomorrow, after all. However, there is, was, and always will be people who see a group of three or more teenagers walking their way and move as far to the other side of the walkway as possible. This was brought to my attention earlier this week when a caller to a talk show I help produce gave his top concern about the proposed expansion at Carousel Mall. For those of you who don't know, Carousel Mall is the thing you see the billboards for in Scranton and other Northeastern cities that wish they could be Syracuse. Anyhoo, this particular caller said that before any kind of expansion should take place, the city should take a closer look at getting rid of the major danger in the existing mall: teenagers. He went on and on about all these 14 and 15-year old boys and girls stalking throughout the mall, especially Friday and Saturday nights. Surely they must have some sort of evil, criminal intent.
Uh, perhaps it hasn't occured to this person or many others who think like him, but MAYBE THEY'RE SHOPPING!!! Teenagers these days have a ton of money, mostly cuz their parents have a ton of money, and they are much more advanced than my generation was at the lost art of getting said money out of said parents. So if you are a teenager, what do you do with this money? Well, one would hope save it, but your college education is probably set (community college at worst), and so you go spend it. And where are you going to spend it? Yes, the Net is fast becoming a good place to spend it, but first you have to get Mom and Dad's credit card numbers, and you still remember not so fondly the two months you were grounded the last time you tried to pull that off. So, it's much easier to go to the mall, and let's face it, your parents and those of your friends in the neighborhood would like nothing more than get rid of all of you for a couple of hours, so the one who is brave enough to pile all of you into his or her car (or the one who lost when they drew straws THIS week) shleps you all off to the mall for a couple of hours. The majority of them around here wind up at Carousel.
I personally have no problem with people of this age wandering about, if anything it makes me pine for the days when I didn't have bills or car repairs and I was spending someone's money other than my own (thanks Mom). The worst that ever happens to me is some give me a look of utter disgust, which makes sense cuz I'm not "one of them" (see last week's column). I do not feel threatened by these kids at all, and besides, being a man, I have two objectives when I go to the mall: 1) to get what I came to get, and 2) to leave. Now if I were to go driving around on the South Side after dark, well, that's another story.
I would like to think we are past the days when instead of "don't trust anyone over 30", it's "don't trust anyone under 20". However, there are still many older people out there who have this philosophy. And because this IS Syracuse we're talking about, where an abnormally large amount of the population is collecting their Social Security, it's apparently a problem here. Memo to these people then: they're for the most part harmless. I often go to Carousel and have never once seen a robbery, beating, stabbing, shooting, mugging, etc. Other than the occasional nutjob taking the express route from the third floor to the commons level (and by that I DON'T mean the elevator), this mall is for the most part an uneventful place. Believe me when I tell you that Generation Y is much more concerned with the 25% off sale at Abercrombie and Fitch than starting a youth uprising in the major economic center of our area. In regards to the youth of America, and in particular, the youth of the greater Syracuse area (great and Syracuse in the same phrase, that's an oxymoron), I am an optimist. Their parents are doing a good job, and if you surveyed these kids, you would be pleasantly surprised at their sense of right and wrong. Of course, if I get flamed by a bunch of kids in response to this column, my overall opinion is subject to change.
And as far as the Mafia quip at the start of this column, I again swear that there was no malice intended, so we're all good, right?
No disrespect to the Mafia, of course; I want to live past tomorrow, after all. However, there is, was, and always will be people who see a group of three or more teenagers walking their way and move as far to the other side of the walkway as possible. This was brought to my attention earlier this week when a caller to a talk show I help produce gave his top concern about the proposed expansion at Carousel Mall. For those of you who don't know, Carousel Mall is the thing you see the billboards for in Scranton and other Northeastern cities that wish they could be Syracuse. Anyhoo, this particular caller said that before any kind of expansion should take place, the city should take a closer look at getting rid of the major danger in the existing mall: teenagers. He went on and on about all these 14 and 15-year old boys and girls stalking throughout the mall, especially Friday and Saturday nights. Surely they must have some sort of evil, criminal intent.
Uh, perhaps it hasn't occured to this person or many others who think like him, but MAYBE THEY'RE SHOPPING!!! Teenagers these days have a ton of money, mostly cuz their parents have a ton of money, and they are much more advanced than my generation was at the lost art of getting said money out of said parents. So if you are a teenager, what do you do with this money? Well, one would hope save it, but your college education is probably set (community college at worst), and so you go spend it. And where are you going to spend it? Yes, the Net is fast becoming a good place to spend it, but first you have to get Mom and Dad's credit card numbers, and you still remember not so fondly the two months you were grounded the last time you tried to pull that off. So, it's much easier to go to the mall, and let's face it, your parents and those of your friends in the neighborhood would like nothing more than get rid of all of you for a couple of hours, so the one who is brave enough to pile all of you into his or her car (or the one who lost when they drew straws THIS week) shleps you all off to the mall for a couple of hours. The majority of them around here wind up at Carousel.
I personally have no problem with people of this age wandering about, if anything it makes me pine for the days when I didn't have bills or car repairs and I was spending someone's money other than my own (thanks Mom). The worst that ever happens to me is some give me a look of utter disgust, which makes sense cuz I'm not "one of them" (see last week's column). I do not feel threatened by these kids at all, and besides, being a man, I have two objectives when I go to the mall: 1) to get what I came to get, and 2) to leave. Now if I were to go driving around on the South Side after dark, well, that's another story.
I would like to think we are past the days when instead of "don't trust anyone over 30", it's "don't trust anyone under 20". However, there are still many older people out there who have this philosophy. And because this IS Syracuse we're talking about, where an abnormally large amount of the population is collecting their Social Security, it's apparently a problem here. Memo to these people then: they're for the most part harmless. I often go to Carousel and have never once seen a robbery, beating, stabbing, shooting, mugging, etc. Other than the occasional nutjob taking the express route from the third floor to the commons level (and by that I DON'T mean the elevator), this mall is for the most part an uneventful place. Believe me when I tell you that Generation Y is much more concerned with the 25% off sale at Abercrombie and Fitch than starting a youth uprising in the major economic center of our area. In regards to the youth of America, and in particular, the youth of the greater Syracuse area (great and Syracuse in the same phrase, that's an oxymoron), I am an optimist. Their parents are doing a good job, and if you surveyed these kids, you would be pleasantly surprised at their sense of right and wrong. Of course, if I get flamed by a bunch of kids in response to this column, my overall opinion is subject to change.
And as far as the Mafia quip at the start of this column, I again swear that there was no malice intended, so we're all good, right?
Labels: teenagers
posted by Dave | 11:30 PM
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