Guileless

Guileless: devoid of guile; innocent and without deception, usually used to describe the youth of the first world, protected species that they are.

But lately I have observed that mid to late teens from the Australian private school systems don’t look that guileless.

The evidence; the cast of their faces. There is a certain wariness hidden behind bravado but offset by a look of superiority.

It’s an odd mix that you’d recognise if we had a sample in front of us.

It’s probably born of affluence, transferred parental expectations, a grafted heritage of school elitism, all very confused with the social nicities as espoused by the curriculum.

I expect that they’d be very guileless outside of their own environment, which is usually a sign of a species that has evolved to be over specialised into a niche.

Usually, extinction follows.