They feel the weather

Every now and then, without actually intending to, I happen to eavesdrop on the conversations of little groups of young people. These kids often adopt a serious, or perhaps overly serious, almost offended tone, with strong tendencies toward indignation. When I fleetingly manage to catch the subject of their talk, I realize it's just simple chatter, almost always about people who aren't present.
Of course, gossip, otherwise known as small talk, has always existed. However, this is a less harmless version of it, in my view. It doesn't involve elderly women and men whose souls have been hardened by time and events, but rather kids who should be swept up in healthy youth enthusiasm.
It cannot be generational victimhood: with few exceptions, any of them would only need to go up two or three levels on the family tree to find individuals for whom life reserved much worse conditions and circumstances.
But then why do they do it? The first reaction of an older person observing them might be the usual accusation: "They're spoiled youth!". Instead, I have the impression that they use silly occurrences as a pretext to seek confirmation, comfort, and empathy from their peers.
However, this is only an interpretation of the symptom, which thus pushes the problem further back. What inner and intangible ogre is tearing their soul apart? Why precisely in this historical period? And why this generation in particular?
Perhaps, if I may be allowed the awkward quote: "They are like beasts, they feel the changing weather!" Where the weather, of course, is not the climate, but history.
And theirs is nothing other than natural agitation in the face of a future that, perhaps like never before, promises to be full of uncertainty.

This post was machine-translated from Italian.