Visionary Friends: Invisible Vanguard

My friend, Yorgo, wrote this blog post. I think it adequately sums out how my "gap generation," in general feels about life. Please also feel free to browse around his little corner of these interwebs, Invisible Vanguard and tell him that Visionary Bri says "Hi."

There's a kind of malaise that's come over us and, in the wake of George Bush Jr. and so many people trying like hell to drag us backwards into a less tolerant society, it's very easy to get downhearted. I will always be hopeful that things, for everyone, can be better. Yet, I know that we can feel lost, sometimes. If I didn't acknowledge this general ennui, I would be doing a great disservice to those around me.

I put this on my personal Facebook page, saying "I just had to repost this, because I feel like this, sometimes. 'We have do so much, yet we feel the future will never be better for us.' Le sigh:"

Receptionist: Don't you feel like your generation is just lazy?
Person: Lazy? I'd say apathetic.
Receptionist: Isn't it the same?
Person: No. My generation is criticized and toiled with, and I don't see why not - just turn on the TV and watch what they're feeding us. But my generation is not lazy. My generation fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. My generation fought for women's rights in a fury that hadn't been seen since the 19th Amendment. My generation got our first black President elected. My generation fought for Gay rights for the first time in American history. And with all that, we are apathetic, and that's because things aren't going to be better for us down the road. We are the first generation expected to make less than our parents. We are the first generation to see America lose its status as a super power. We've lived through the worst economic times since the Great Depression, and are forced to take out thousands of dollars in student loans at the same time, all while our college degrees slowly turn into a high school diploma. We've done plenty, and expect nothing. So no, I wouldn't say we're lazy, just apathetic."

 

So, what do you think? Does this reflect how you feel in the world? Any suggestions about how we can get ourselves, as a group, out of this funk we seem to be in?

 I look toward personal empowerment. How about you?