WHO SAYS OUR YOUNG PEOPLE ARE SOFT?

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 83, 9 January 1950, Page 5

WHO SAYS OUR YOUNG PEOPLE ARE SOFT?

One hears it said quite often that the young people of today can’t take it the way the old-timers did. .Maybe there’s something in it, at that. In that there’s not the same need for hardship, and therefore not the same necessity for feats of endurance. But the modern lads and lasses have what it takes, alright. Just look around Ohope. Have a yarn to a few of the campers there. Look for the small tents, the sleeping bags, the scanty gear. That’s where you find the hikers and cyclists. That’s where you hear stories of endurance in the name of pleasure that would make a pioneer’s eyes pop.

Two young women trudged the dusty road up the big hill out of Ohope: In spite of their hob-nailed boots the trim shorts, bright blouses and jaunty caps kept up the glamour standard. They looked soft enough to make exciting companions in a setting fit for romance, but- they were hardy enough to turn down the offer of a lift (quite honourably intended) with the smiling declaration that they wanted to be able to say they had walked all the way back to Auckland, as they had walked all the way here.

Yes, it took time. They admitted that. But they considered they had seen a lot of country they might have missed from the window of a bus. They came through Rotorua. Are now on their way back through Tauranga.- \

And, for the benefit of Grannie who gloats over carrying a' baby ten miles on her back in the old days, these kids (they looked about 18) carried all their camping gear on their backs. Then there was the young man who came casually into the Beacon’s office on v Friday to enquire about an advertisement. This was just after lunch. Another Aucklander, travelling on a bicycle, he had lost a bag between Whakatane and Ohope when he had given it to a truck driver to carry over for him and it had dropped off the truck. He had cycled on to Tauranga, where he heard the Whakatane police had had his bag handed in to the station.,

So what did he do? Just hopped on the bicycle on Friday morning, lode over here, collected his bag, cancelled hijs “lost” ad, and rode back to Tauranga. That is just one day’s pleasure in a i holiday he is enjoying immensely. To those of us who are just old enough to start wagging the head about the shortcomings of youth, the only possible explanation is that they are trying to make enjoying themselves so much harder than working that they will go back after their holidays with a real love of work.

Softies? Not these young people!