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| ~Photograph by MissNikkiAnn |
For most of my childhood, society didn’t really matter to me because I thought I was going to Hogwarts. Needless to say, this didn’t happen; thus, along with an entire generation raised on the false promise of a letter by owl post, I came to accept that this world is all we get. In the fall of 2001, when I had achieved the height of the average hobbit, I noticed that my parents were turning off the news in disgust. From this, I deduced that the outside world is a bad place.
I am glad to say that my antipathy
towards this world has since been tempered by a broader worldview and the
acquaintance of some truly wonderful people, but I am by no means the only
teenager so affected. I will not attempt
to characterize my generation because I have no right to do so: I don’t want
anyone branding me as part of the “text-message generation,” so I won’t label
anyone with my own generalizations. I
can confidently say, however, that much of the apathy and dissatisfaction of
America’s youth can be attributed to the poor decisions of our supposed role
models.
Time and again, I have seen any and all
shortcomings of the newest crop of teenagers blamed on the media, parents,
technology, schools, subversive music… I could go on. Believe me, there are times when current pop
music makes me question our intelligence too. However, I find that adults often forget
something important:
When the government fights a war it
can’t finance, we know who will ultimately pay. When taxes are bottom-heavy, we know that
talent, intellect, and work ethic are not enough to get us through college. And when we hear, “Drill baby, Drill!” we know
that we cannot even count on older generations to leave us with an earth fit to
inhabit. Intelligence is not magically
endowed when one turns eighteen; kids are observant enough to notice current
events and to be duly disturbed.
To say that the youth is in decline is
inaccurate because it implies that the rest of the population is not. At this point,
blame is arbitrary. With America and the
world taking a turn for the worse, we are going to have to get over ourselves
and admit that, as human beings, it is our responsibility to clean up the mess
that we, as human beings, created.
To me, the Occupy movement is simultaneously
an expression of this dissatisfaction and living proof that society does not
have to be so dysfunctional:
If a few hundred people can live peacefully
in a small park, sharing food and living space, then why must America continue
to fight both against its citizens and any foreign nation with oil while waging
a full-out war on the environment?
My generation is not the first to
struggle with entering the society that our parents have built. But if drastic action is not taken, we may be
one of the last.
~Essay by Olive K.
~Essay by Olive K.
