Seniors vs youth: why we all just can’t get along?

Sophia Darzanos explores the likelihood of our youth carrying on the work of Greek cultural groups and their want to be involved now


Cultural associations have been a part of the Greek community since the first migrants arrived in Australia. It was their way of staying united and carrying on the traditions of their homeland. They have been the social hub for many generations, hosting dances, fundraisers and even entertainment from Greece.

For every region of Greece there will be an association. Within that association there may be a dancing group, a music ensemble, a women’s club, a youth committee and sporting club, a men’s tavli group, and the list goes on and on. For every one of these segments of an association there is also a sub-committee and above that sub-committee is the original committee, confused? Yes well so are all these committee members about who’s right, wrong and who’s just sitting in between.

However, the problem isn’t all the sub-committees involved in an association, the frustration lies with the taking over of these associations. Times are changing and ownership of associations and clubs are starting to change as well. Youth have been and are still becoming more involved in wanting to maintain their Greek heritage and culture, and although most of the senior representatives are finding it hard to let go of the reigns, the youth are also fighting to take over and move with the current times.

John Rerakis an active committee member of the PanCretan Association says “It’s not so much that seniors don’t trust the youth, they fear that they won’t carry on the clubs the way they have been doing for so long”. Many youth that take part in committees often hear the phrase ‘tha mas to fane’. In other words, they will ruin the club.

However, it seems to be quite the opposite. Current youth member at Pontiaki Estia, Madeleine Athanasiadis tells Neos Kosmos: “It’s [the youth] that will eventually take over clubs in the future, it’s better they involve us now and teach us what they have been doing within the club and we can just tweak it for 2012”.

Although the generation gap is said to be the main cause of most problems, their views and opinions of what is important and what is not differs from that of the youth, and this is where most committees are struggling to agree with what should be done and how. Some would disagree.

“In our association we never have had a problem with the youth, we believe a committee needs to have second and third generations to maintain our work and understand what we are doing and why,” Michael Psarros from the Chian Association SA tells Neos Kosmos. However the views of a younger member are somewhat different. “With the older generations we found they struggled to pass on the club because it was their life and has been for many years, they fear change so they have a hold on the committee,” says Ms Athanasiadis.

Current concerns for the Greek youth community include preserving the Greek language and traditions. It is also their aim to try and continue the support of young families and not just focus on the social gatherings. Risks should be taken in order to grow: they might not always work out but trying something new is better than sitting in a rut.

“Some older members don’t understand risk, they only understand what they have been doing for so long, ‘souvles and fagopoti to eat and drink’, it shouldn’t only be about that, for our generation we need to present something cultural, interesting and different, not the same stuff over and over again,” says Barbara Langanis-Diakos from the Panrhodian Society SA.

“They do what they know because it’s a comfort thing for them, seniors beg youth to come and join committees for continuity, and when youth present ideas that the seniors don’t feel comfortable with…they fear the risks of change,” Mrs Langanis-Diakos says.

All this back and forth, ‘we said they said’ between senior and youth committees seems to come about due to lack of communication. It may be language it may be changing of times, but it should be an issue that can be easily managed. Miss Athanasiadis said “Communication is hard at times, the older generation mainly want to talk Greek and the youth English, that would be the hardest barrier to overcome as and you can imagine each other’s frustration when presenting ideas or organising functions.

“For a club to be successful there needs to be understanding, we need to understand the youth and for them to understand us, mistakes might be made however there is no need to point the finger, making mistakes are often the best way to learn. The worst thing for us senior members to hear from the youth is ‘you don’t understand’. If we didn’t understand then we wouldn’t have the successful clubs we have today,” Mr Psarros said.

It’s clear to see that both want and need each other and many things can be taught and changed to suit the times. Social media is the way of communicating with the youth of today, gone are the days of a newsletter. “If [the seniors] allow the youth who have access and computer skills, they can promote their club and can encourage continuity otherwise membership suffers because no new members will sign up like they used to,” Mrs Langanis-Diakos says.

“There are few willing and passionate and wanting to carry on what the forefathers started. In my experience I haven’t had any problems with voicing my proposals, it really does come down to each committee,” says Mrs Laganis-Diakos.

According to sources, the top five concerns for seniors is that the youth won’t be able to understand money issues: the association’s property, member numbers, sponsorship and club growth. Some find the youth to be a threat and dismiss ideas by saying ‘how do you expect to pay for that?’ They take the attack mode rather then ask and explain how we can go about this and how can we make it work. Whereas the youth understand those ideas might cost money, there are ways of gaining grants to support these ideas.

The youth need to understand it’s not only about a sellout event; it’s the work that goes behind it, the preparations, the clean up, the running of the night. Yes, they want to take part in committees, but it’s the back end work too that needs focus also. The seniors need to understand it’s not only souvles and Sunday lunches; it’s keeping the younger families involved and wanting to come back.

It should also be about providing cultural and educational learning, and the teaching of dances and instruments to further their knowledge. “I believe that all or most of the committee members, regardless of age or gender, should share the same vision, enthusiasm, mutual respect, commitment, cooperation, no egos. These qualities guarantee success and progress,” Mrs Laganis-Diakos said.

Both sides have very different views of what a committee should entail and how it should be run and although both views are important for the success of an association, there will always be us and them. Whether this issue of senior vs youth will ever be resolved, no one can say. The views of the youth today will be somewhat different to the views of the youth in fifty years time. It seems to be just a vicious cycle of ‘we will always know better’ from one generation to the next.