I've mentioned before that I want our generation to name ourselves, and not some outside generation! Therefore, tell them that you will not accept Generation Vexed! Geez, that's just a variation of Generation X, so it's not even original! So I ask all of you of to reject outsiders' attempts to label our generation! And especially a negative and unimaginative designation!
Instead, let's use my suggestion, the Worgen Generation! Now that's way cooler than being known as "vexed"! (derisive snort)
Showing posts with label generation y. Show all posts
Showing posts with label generation y. Show all posts
Monday, August 29, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
Why the "Worgen Generation?" Part 3 of 3
And now we come to the third and last part of why I think we should name our generation the "Worgen Generation".
3.) The use of the worgen also reflects something about our upbringing, and to better explain that, I have posted a page from the current comics series "Curse of the Worgen" (this is from issue #3) at the bottom of my post. Please read it before continuing, then come back here.
***(continue here)***
In WoW lore, the city of Gilneas is a kingdom of humans that had shut itself off from the rest of the world in order to protect itself from what it saw was the increasing evils of the world (in this case, the world is named Azeroth). The good leaders had noble intentions, but such isolationist actions rarely succeed, and eventually the city found itself being attacked by a race known as the Forsaken (who belong to the aforementioned Horde), a group of undead zombies who have managed to regain their sentience.
Not only that, the Gilneans also found themselves attacked from within, by wolf-like creatures that eventually came to be known as worgen. The worgen curse is passed down by being bitten by a worgen, so eventually nearly the whole city was infected with the worgen curse, including its king, Genn Graymane, who had initially kept this secret from his subjects until later.
The worgen curse was brought to Gilneas by a night elf druid (night elves are a part of the Alliance) named Ralaan who is entirely convinced of the rightness of his "cause", which is to introduce the world to what he feels is the blessing of "Goldrinn" (a wolf god in WoW who is the source of the ability to turn into worgen). Becoming a worgen also means taking on and abandoning yourself into a primal and feral fury. Ralaan claims that becoming a worgen frees the mind from the inhibitions that we tend to impose on it, and he evens goes so far as to call it enlightenment and the thought processes while under the influence of being a worgen as "purity of thought". To run wild, in other words, is to run free, and that's what he wants to share with everyone.
Does this sound familiar? This is basically the bill of goods that our baby boomer parents and liberal leaders have fed us all this time - to abandon ourselves to our basic and carnal urges. They have fed this to us because they have fed this to themselves, believing somehow that releasing ourselves from our inhibitions and freeing ourselves to our various lusts will open our minds and broaden our horizons. Some of them got so caught up in their perverse definition of "enlightenment" that they abandoned certain other responsibilities - like to their children. But rather than feel guilty about abandoning their parental responsibilities to us, they instead tried to assuage their guilt by indoctrinating us into their hedonistic lifestyle.
Before you think I'm exaggerating here, think about your upbringing. First, consider that legalized abortion became available for our parents, who at the time were in the process of abandoning themselves to their lusts and urges, and as we all know, being pregnant tends to get in the way of hedonists practicing their "craft", and we just can't have that, can we? And who were these little obstructionists? Us! Our generation lost a great deal of our number - one third of us, according to some estimates - because the majority of those who got abortions simply didn't want to put up with the inconvenience of having and raising a baby. Sucks to be us, right?
Those of you of my generation who are reading these words were the lucky ones. However, our troubles didn't end there. Our generation also happened to be the ones that were latchkey kids; that is, you pretty much had to wake yourself up to get yourself ready for school and you had to walk yourself to school in the mornings and you had to walk yourselves back to an empty home and had to prepare your own meals. Why? Because your parents (if they were still married to each other) were gone early in the morning and often returned late at night.
How many of you also spent a great deal of time in daycare? How many of you spent a lot of time with your grandparents, or aunts or uncles? How many of you were *raised* by your grandparents, or aunts or uncles? How many of you have had multiple step-parents, and step-sibling, and half-sibling? How many marriages have your parents had? And most importantly, how many of you have been told by your parents that they are doing all this "for you"? Oh really? The multiple marriages and the mix-and-match families was for our benefit?
I wish that these parents would at least have the honesty to admit that they did all this for *their* benefit, and what was best for the kids was actually an afterthought. When they did do things "for us", it was actually to benefit them in some way. Also consider this when many of you were teens: How many of you knew a friend or had a friend who knew a friend whose parents were willing to buy them cigarettes, booze or drugs? I knew quite a few. Why would these parents do such a thing? This will probably also sound familiar: They wanted to be their children's"friend". I'm not a psychologist, but if I were to hazard a guess, I would say that this was their subconscious way of making up for their lack of parenting skills. But what kind of parent makes up for their absenteeism by handing their child a pack of cigarettes or a bottle of booze?
On top of all this was the fact that in school, we were subjected to all the stupid educational "theories" to come down the pike, and we were made the subjects of every stupid social experimentation they could come up with - all for "our own good", of course! I can't tell you how many times I watched friends of mine suffer needlessly because of the stupid selfish and hedonistic philosophies that our parents and teachers followed simply because that's what their contemporaries did. In other words, they were all being conformists in their nonconformity. You would think the irony would have smacked them in the head at some point!
Anyway, to wrap this up: We were a captive audience, much like the citizens of Gilneas in their walled city, because these people were our parents and our teachers. They followed their own "Ralaans" and their ideas of releasing yourself into your primal and carnal lusts as enlightenment. We were made to follow in these philosophies because we were raised - no, make that indoctrinated - into it much like the citizens of Gilneas who were infected with the worgen curse, so a bunch of us ran wild like the worgen did in Gilneas. This is why I say that we are worgen. We are the Worgen Generation.
But there are worgen who fought the feral passions through help and through magic and medicine that helped control those passions. They regained their self-control even as they still possessed the wolf-like body, but it's a battle they will have to fight for the rest of their lives. Much like we will have to fight our demons. But friends, we can do it, and we must do it. There is a night elf priest in the comic named Belysra who felt guilt over her role in the worgen infestation of the Gilnean population, and made up for it by helping Gilneans who are cursed as worgens to control their feral passions. I want to be our generation's Belysra.
The comic page below is the point that I want many more of us to get to - the realization that we have been misled by false prophets and that we have to take it upon ourselves to bring us out of the sort of "enlightenment" that they have promised. We may have been "cursed" by people who should have been our providers and protectors, but it doesn't mean that we have to stay "cursed". But first we have to open our eyes to the problem. Only then can we get to the point that the worgen is at in the page below.
So friends, let's take control of our lives and our destinies, and let's start by controlling the name by which we refer to ourselves: Let's be the Worgen Generation. May our howls be heard the world over!
3.) The use of the worgen also reflects something about our upbringing, and to better explain that, I have posted a page from the current comics series "Curse of the Worgen" (this is from issue #3) at the bottom of my post. Please read it before continuing, then come back here.
***(continue here)***
In WoW lore, the city of Gilneas is a kingdom of humans that had shut itself off from the rest of the world in order to protect itself from what it saw was the increasing evils of the world (in this case, the world is named Azeroth). The good leaders had noble intentions, but such isolationist actions rarely succeed, and eventually the city found itself being attacked by a race known as the Forsaken (who belong to the aforementioned Horde), a group of undead zombies who have managed to regain their sentience.
Not only that, the Gilneans also found themselves attacked from within, by wolf-like creatures that eventually came to be known as worgen. The worgen curse is passed down by being bitten by a worgen, so eventually nearly the whole city was infected with the worgen curse, including its king, Genn Graymane, who had initially kept this secret from his subjects until later.
The worgen curse was brought to Gilneas by a night elf druid (night elves are a part of the Alliance) named Ralaan who is entirely convinced of the rightness of his "cause", which is to introduce the world to what he feels is the blessing of "Goldrinn" (a wolf god in WoW who is the source of the ability to turn into worgen). Becoming a worgen also means taking on and abandoning yourself into a primal and feral fury. Ralaan claims that becoming a worgen frees the mind from the inhibitions that we tend to impose on it, and he evens goes so far as to call it enlightenment and the thought processes while under the influence of being a worgen as "purity of thought". To run wild, in other words, is to run free, and that's what he wants to share with everyone.
Does this sound familiar? This is basically the bill of goods that our baby boomer parents and liberal leaders have fed us all this time - to abandon ourselves to our basic and carnal urges. They have fed this to us because they have fed this to themselves, believing somehow that releasing ourselves from our inhibitions and freeing ourselves to our various lusts will open our minds and broaden our horizons. Some of them got so caught up in their perverse definition of "enlightenment" that they abandoned certain other responsibilities - like to their children. But rather than feel guilty about abandoning their parental responsibilities to us, they instead tried to assuage their guilt by indoctrinating us into their hedonistic lifestyle.
Before you think I'm exaggerating here, think about your upbringing. First, consider that legalized abortion became available for our parents, who at the time were in the process of abandoning themselves to their lusts and urges, and as we all know, being pregnant tends to get in the way of hedonists practicing their "craft", and we just can't have that, can we? And who were these little obstructionists? Us! Our generation lost a great deal of our number - one third of us, according to some estimates - because the majority of those who got abortions simply didn't want to put up with the inconvenience of having and raising a baby. Sucks to be us, right?
Those of you of my generation who are reading these words were the lucky ones. However, our troubles didn't end there. Our generation also happened to be the ones that were latchkey kids; that is, you pretty much had to wake yourself up to get yourself ready for school and you had to walk yourself to school in the mornings and you had to walk yourselves back to an empty home and had to prepare your own meals. Why? Because your parents (if they were still married to each other) were gone early in the morning and often returned late at night.
How many of you also spent a great deal of time in daycare? How many of you spent a lot of time with your grandparents, or aunts or uncles? How many of you were *raised* by your grandparents, or aunts or uncles? How many of you have had multiple step-parents, and step-sibling, and half-sibling? How many marriages have your parents had? And most importantly, how many of you have been told by your parents that they are doing all this "for you"? Oh really? The multiple marriages and the mix-and-match families was for our benefit?
I wish that these parents would at least have the honesty to admit that they did all this for *their* benefit, and what was best for the kids was actually an afterthought. When they did do things "for us", it was actually to benefit them in some way. Also consider this when many of you were teens: How many of you knew a friend or had a friend who knew a friend whose parents were willing to buy them cigarettes, booze or drugs? I knew quite a few. Why would these parents do such a thing? This will probably also sound familiar: They wanted to be their children's"friend". I'm not a psychologist, but if I were to hazard a guess, I would say that this was their subconscious way of making up for their lack of parenting skills. But what kind of parent makes up for their absenteeism by handing their child a pack of cigarettes or a bottle of booze?
On top of all this was the fact that in school, we were subjected to all the stupid educational "theories" to come down the pike, and we were made the subjects of every stupid social experimentation they could come up with - all for "our own good", of course! I can't tell you how many times I watched friends of mine suffer needlessly because of the stupid selfish and hedonistic philosophies that our parents and teachers followed simply because that's what their contemporaries did. In other words, they were all being conformists in their nonconformity. You would think the irony would have smacked them in the head at some point!
Anyway, to wrap this up: We were a captive audience, much like the citizens of Gilneas in their walled city, because these people were our parents and our teachers. They followed their own "Ralaans" and their ideas of releasing yourself into your primal and carnal lusts as enlightenment. We were made to follow in these philosophies because we were raised - no, make that indoctrinated - into it much like the citizens of Gilneas who were infected with the worgen curse, so a bunch of us ran wild like the worgen did in Gilneas. This is why I say that we are worgen. We are the Worgen Generation.
But there are worgen who fought the feral passions through help and through magic and medicine that helped control those passions. They regained their self-control even as they still possessed the wolf-like body, but it's a battle they will have to fight for the rest of their lives. Much like we will have to fight our demons. But friends, we can do it, and we must do it. There is a night elf priest in the comic named Belysra who felt guilt over her role in the worgen infestation of the Gilnean population, and made up for it by helping Gilneans who are cursed as worgens to control their feral passions. I want to be our generation's Belysra.
The comic page below is the point that I want many more of us to get to - the realization that we have been misled by false prophets and that we have to take it upon ourselves to bring us out of the sort of "enlightenment" that they have promised. We may have been "cursed" by people who should have been our providers and protectors, but it doesn't mean that we have to stay "cursed". But first we have to open our eyes to the problem. Only then can we get to the point that the worgen is at in the page below.
So friends, let's take control of our lives and our destinies, and let's start by controlling the name by which we refer to ourselves: Let's be the Worgen Generation. May our howls be heard the world over!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Why the "Worgen Generation?" Part 2 of 3
Today continues my discussion for calling ourselves the "Worgen Generation". Part 3 will come Friday.
2.) The use of worgen also reflects how we communicate with each other. To my knowledge, our generation is the first to make such extensive use of online communication. That can be done in the game of WoW, obviously, but we also make use of text-messaging, Facebook, and tweeting. We are the first to live, play and communicate in these virtual environments. I know there are concerns that by being in the virtual world so much, we are losing interpersonal skills, but I say that this does not have to be the case.
We have seen in recent weeks what technological interpersonal communication can do by the recent protests in the Middle East to help organize and protest the various countries' leaders. But this had been done a couple of years back in Iran and after that in the Tea Party movement in this country. We had utilized our technological skills to good use, and thwarted "the powers that be" by being in communication with each other beyond their control. They can, of course, cut off cellphone and Internet usage, but we had already lit the fuse of uprising by that point and have already created alternate forms of communications by that time.
In fact, compare our technological form of protest with the forms of “protest” the Baby Boomers used - that is, “sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll” – and see which had a more substantial and instantaneous effect. While our parents “tuned in, turned on, and dropped out”, our generation is toppling leaders – even leaders that have been established for decades. Leave the boomers with their drug-addled brains, venereal disease, dusty LPs, and “misty water-colored memories” of the way they were; we’ll take our technology and the societal changes that we can actually see taking place in front of our eyes, thank-you-very-much!
It's important to think of that: We had bypassed the usual methods the "powers that be" of controlling the message and content by being in contact with each other in these very personal and yet very open methods. In the past, a person of power who wanted to control the message would dump loads of money to various message outlets like the media. Now, however, we can be tweeting with each other in a matter of literally seconds, and we will have already spread our message to each other long before the person in question even knows what we've said.
In a sense, you can even say that we have our own language with "textspeak". For instance, most of my generation knows what this means virtually instantaneously: OMG! CYBI? IWL, AYS? LOL! I'm sure that most of you older folks can eventually figure out what I said, but I bet it took you a lot longer than the folks my age. The benefit of textspeak is that we can translate it faster than you can even if you happen to intercept our messages.
It can be said, really, that each generation speaks its own "language" that the previous generation doesn't understand, so why should we be any different? The benefit of being so adept at interpersonal technological communication is that we are readily available for each other - literally just a Tweet away! We can be in touch instantaneously with a lot more of our friends faster than you can be in touch with yours even your speed-dial! :-D
In closing, let me say that: All your communication base are belong to us! >:-)
On Friday, I will discuss the last point of suggesting the "Worgen Generation". See you then!
2.) The use of worgen also reflects how we communicate with each other. To my knowledge, our generation is the first to make such extensive use of online communication. That can be done in the game of WoW, obviously, but we also make use of text-messaging, Facebook, and tweeting. We are the first to live, play and communicate in these virtual environments. I know there are concerns that by being in the virtual world so much, we are losing interpersonal skills, but I say that this does not have to be the case.
We have seen in recent weeks what technological interpersonal communication can do by the recent protests in the Middle East to help organize and protest the various countries' leaders. But this had been done a couple of years back in Iran and after that in the Tea Party movement in this country. We had utilized our technological skills to good use, and thwarted "the powers that be" by being in communication with each other beyond their control. They can, of course, cut off cellphone and Internet usage, but we had already lit the fuse of uprising by that point and have already created alternate forms of communications by that time.
In fact, compare our technological form of protest with the forms of “protest” the Baby Boomers used - that is, “sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll” – and see which had a more substantial and instantaneous effect. While our parents “tuned in, turned on, and dropped out”, our generation is toppling leaders – even leaders that have been established for decades. Leave the boomers with their drug-addled brains, venereal disease, dusty LPs, and “misty water-colored memories” of the way they were; we’ll take our technology and the societal changes that we can actually see taking place in front of our eyes, thank-you-very-much!
It's important to think of that: We had bypassed the usual methods the "powers that be" of controlling the message and content by being in contact with each other in these very personal and yet very open methods. In the past, a person of power who wanted to control the message would dump loads of money to various message outlets like the media. Now, however, we can be tweeting with each other in a matter of literally seconds, and we will have already spread our message to each other long before the person in question even knows what we've said.
In a sense, you can even say that we have our own language with "textspeak". For instance, most of my generation knows what this means virtually instantaneously: OMG! CYBI? IWL, AYS? LOL! I'm sure that most of you older folks can eventually figure out what I said, but I bet it took you a lot longer than the folks my age. The benefit of textspeak is that we can translate it faster than you can even if you happen to intercept our messages.
It can be said, really, that each generation speaks its own "language" that the previous generation doesn't understand, so why should we be any different? The benefit of being so adept at interpersonal technological communication is that we are readily available for each other - literally just a Tweet away! We can be in touch instantaneously with a lot more of our friends faster than you can be in touch with yours even your speed-dial! :-D
In closing, let me say that: All your communication base are belong to us! >:-)
On Friday, I will discuss the last point of suggesting the "Worgen Generation". See you then!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Why the "Worgen Generation"? Part 1 of 3
Last week I had introduced my suggestion to name my generation (generally, those in their 20's who mostly were the children of Baby Boomers), and I suggested the "Worgen Generation" so that we named ourselves rather than allow ourselves to be named by someone else - especially by those of another generation.
Thing is, folks - it's been said that our generation will be the first to not outdo the previous generation, and I've said before that we don't have to accept that as a foregone conclusion. We don't have to live up to this self-fulfilling prophecy just because someone else says so. No, I think we can be the "Best Generation" despite whatever obstacles that others may put in our way. Below is my first reason for suggesting the "Worgen Generation". The second and third reason will come Wednesday and Friday respectively.
1.) "Worgen" as I'm using it here comes from the game, World of Warcraft. The worgen are a race of humans who have the ability (or more accurately, a curse) to become werewolf-type creatures. For those of you who do not play WoW, basically, WoW is a fantasy online game in which you do battle against various villains and against the opposite faction in a "Lord of the Rings" style setting. Worgen belong to the Alliance faction (the opposing faction and the one I had played is the Horde). There's a lot more to WoW than what I'm describing here of course, but that is it in a nutshell.
Anyway, my use of the worgen reflects our generation's gaming pasttime. Yes, previous generations had the video arcade games, but to my knowledge, our generation is the first to use it to the extent that it is now; that is, to the extent that gaming is as much a part of our social life as other forms of socializing, like bowling or miniature golf for young adults of the past. Technology has become a part of our lives like the Hi-Fi record players of my parents' generation.
On Wednesday, I continue with my second point. See you then!
Thing is, folks - it's been said that our generation will be the first to not outdo the previous generation, and I've said before that we don't have to accept that as a foregone conclusion. We don't have to live up to this self-fulfilling prophecy just because someone else says so. No, I think we can be the "Best Generation" despite whatever obstacles that others may put in our way. Below is my first reason for suggesting the "Worgen Generation". The second and third reason will come Wednesday and Friday respectively.
1.) "Worgen" as I'm using it here comes from the game, World of Warcraft. The worgen are a race of humans who have the ability (or more accurately, a curse) to become werewolf-type creatures. For those of you who do not play WoW, basically, WoW is a fantasy online game in which you do battle against various villains and against the opposite faction in a "Lord of the Rings" style setting. Worgen belong to the Alliance faction (the opposing faction and the one I had played is the Horde). There's a lot more to WoW than what I'm describing here of course, but that is it in a nutshell.
Anyway, my use of the worgen reflects our generation's gaming pasttime. Yes, previous generations had the video arcade games, but to my knowledge, our generation is the first to use it to the extent that it is now; that is, to the extent that gaming is as much a part of our social life as other forms of socializing, like bowling or miniature golf for young adults of the past. Technology has become a part of our lives like the Hi-Fi record players of my parents' generation.
On Wednesday, I continue with my second point. See you then!
Friday, February 18, 2011
A symbol for our generation?
I've mentioned previously about our generation; that is, those of us in our 20's who are the children of Baby Boomers. Something I've been considering ever since is this: What shall we call ourselves?
Yes, I know we've been called Generation Y (because we are the generation after Generation X), and also the Millennials because we are the first generation to be adults in the new millennium, and even sometimes called the Baby Boomlet since most of us are the children of Baby Boomers.
However, I say that we reject whatever name others may want to call us; especially names that try to identify or associate us with another generation. We are our own generation, dammit! Let's instead control our own destiny and chart our own course, and we start that by coming up with our own name.
And of course, I have an idea for a possible name! Or perhaps it's more accurate to say that I have an idea for a symbol for our generation. And that symbol is the worgen race of the MMORPG, World of Warcraft. How does the Worgen Generation sound? Why the worgen? That answer, my friends, will come next week. :-)
Yes, I know we've been called Generation Y (because we are the generation after Generation X), and also the Millennials because we are the first generation to be adults in the new millennium, and even sometimes called the Baby Boomlet since most of us are the children of Baby Boomers.
However, I say that we reject whatever name others may want to call us; especially names that try to identify or associate us with another generation. We are our own generation, dammit! Let's instead control our own destiny and chart our own course, and we start that by coming up with our own name.
And of course, I have an idea for a possible name! Or perhaps it's more accurate to say that I have an idea for a symbol for our generation. And that symbol is the worgen race of the MMORPG, World of Warcraft. How does the Worgen Generation sound? Why the worgen? That answer, my friends, will come next week. :-)
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
A USA Today article of GenY and religion
Yesterday, the USA Today ran an article on GenY and religion; basically saying that while we may not be as associated with organized religions as the generations before us, it doesn't mean that we aren't religious. Didn't I describe myself in just that way in a previous blog entry?
Some of you may wonder what I do for certain holidays like Christmas and Easter in which special services are conducted. I will usually go to a local Greek Orthodox (which is what my family had belonged to historically, although my parents had long dropped out of the practice of religion by the time I was born) or Catholic church. I am not unfamiliar with the practices and customs of the Greek Orthodox Church (GOC), but having not been born and raised in it like my parents were, I don't understand some of why they do what they do, and why they believe in what they believe.
Yes, I know what some of you are thinking; if I want to understand it, then I should join it. One reason is demonstrated by the example that someone once gave me: Two persons may be in a car on the road, but the driver undergoes a different experience than the passenger does. The passenger's mind may be free to wander and take in the sights passing by, but the driver has to stay focused on what he or she is doing, or they both won't make it to their destination. And yet, the driver has a different kind of freedom that the passenger does not: The driver has the power to determine where they are going and how they get there. A passenger is like the church shopper who never joins, while the driver is like the church shopper who makes a commitment to join.
The GOC might be a logical start for me, and yet, my parents left that church for a reason. However, they left it because they are of the radical left-wing Marxist mindset of religion being the "opium of the masses", so their views are hardly objective and analytical (If you don't know Marxists already, then trust me, they are unreasonable and illogical people). I must confess that there is a mischievous side of me that wants to join the GOC just to piss off my parents. However it's one thing to adopt a conservative political ideology as a form of teenage rebellion, but another matter entirely to join my parents' former religious faith just to spite them. After all, joining a faith out of spite to someone is not a good reason to join it!
So anyway, I am still looking as stated in my previous blog entry linked above. It is interesting to see that my experiences regarding faith and spirituality are common in my generation. I have - well, faith! - that we will find our way one day, and it will be after some true soul-searching to find our way. This actually leads to how the baby boomers complicated matters for us, but I'll save that for a discussion for another time. I'm working on a blog entry somewhat related to this anyway. :-)
Some of you may wonder what I do for certain holidays like Christmas and Easter in which special services are conducted. I will usually go to a local Greek Orthodox (which is what my family had belonged to historically, although my parents had long dropped out of the practice of religion by the time I was born) or Catholic church. I am not unfamiliar with the practices and customs of the Greek Orthodox Church (GOC), but having not been born and raised in it like my parents were, I don't understand some of why they do what they do, and why they believe in what they believe.
Yes, I know what some of you are thinking; if I want to understand it, then I should join it. One reason is demonstrated by the example that someone once gave me: Two persons may be in a car on the road, but the driver undergoes a different experience than the passenger does. The passenger's mind may be free to wander and take in the sights passing by, but the driver has to stay focused on what he or she is doing, or they both won't make it to their destination. And yet, the driver has a different kind of freedom that the passenger does not: The driver has the power to determine where they are going and how they get there. A passenger is like the church shopper who never joins, while the driver is like the church shopper who makes a commitment to join.
The GOC might be a logical start for me, and yet, my parents left that church for a reason. However, they left it because they are of the radical left-wing Marxist mindset of religion being the "opium of the masses", so their views are hardly objective and analytical (If you don't know Marxists already, then trust me, they are unreasonable and illogical people). I must confess that there is a mischievous side of me that wants to join the GOC just to piss off my parents. However it's one thing to adopt a conservative political ideology as a form of teenage rebellion, but another matter entirely to join my parents' former religious faith just to spite them. After all, joining a faith out of spite to someone is not a good reason to join it!
So anyway, I am still looking as stated in my previous blog entry linked above. It is interesting to see that my experiences regarding faith and spirituality are common in my generation. I have - well, faith! - that we will find our way one day, and it will be after some true soul-searching to find our way. This actually leads to how the baby boomers complicated matters for us, but I'll save that for a discussion for another time. I'm working on a blog entry somewhat related to this anyway. :-)
Friday, March 5, 2010
Generation Y: The worst generation? Don't you believe it!
“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen."
“Never give in, never give in, never; never; never; never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense”
“We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out”
“Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.”
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
“If you are going through hell, keep going.”
“It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.”
– Winston Churchill
********************************************
My favorite subject all through my schooling – from elementary all the way through college – was history, but especially American history and world history. I absolutely love studying the past and finding out how people did things back then and why. By studying the past, we also learn a lot about ourselves and how we have evolved since the times of our ancestors – and especially, how we have not changed since those times. There is a whole lot of wisdom in that old saying, “Those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it.”
Another one of my loves should come as no surprise to regular readers of my blog: I love superhero comic books. The titanic tales of heroism in the face of danger have always captivated and fascinated me. Even though most of the superhero folks have superhuman powers, the best stories about them were about just how human they really were. Plus, certain heroes embodied certain values that I still live by to this day.
For example, Superman embodies that you should use your talents for the greater good. He got this value system from his Midwestern farmer parents. Spiderman’s classic line of “With great power comes great responsibility” came to him the hard way, after he had lost his uncle after failing to stop someone when he could have – and that person ended up being the one who killed his uncle. Captain America believes in the best of everyone he meets, and he believes in the American dream. Those around him can’t help but be bolstered by his infectious optimism.
When I was a little girl struggling with my personal problems related to growing up, I found solace in my history books and my comic books. The tales from history and the comics showed me that I was not the only one who has problems, and that the solutions to our problems often could be found from within. The very best people in history were not those that had the most money or the most power, but those whom had a strong moral center, and who were able to maintain that center despite the most trying of times. Winston Churchill, whose quotes are above, is one such example.
All this is preface for what I’m about to discuss, and that’s in regards to my generation, often referred to as “Generation Y”. In a previous blog entry, I had stated that it could be said that my generation is the worst generation. I’m now about to explain what I meant by that, and I will explain it by paraphrasing one of Churchill’s quotes above: “Generation Y is the worst generation, except for all the rest.” Yes, my fellow GenYs, we have the potential to be the best generation if we want it bad enough.
Mind you, this term is not meant to supplant the generation that lived through the Depression and fought in World War II. That generation will always be the Greatest Generation; it’s virtually impossible to match the accomplishment of a generation that grew up in poverty and with a spotty education, and yet went on to literally save the world by fighting the Axis empires.
What I mean by “Best Generation” is that we GenYs have the potential to accomplish so much that we can transform the world – not by intent, but as a result of the potential for good that we can bring about if we apply our talents in the right way. That is, we will accomplish this not by deliberately trying to change the world in some grand master plan, but instead, it will come about because we work on the individual level. “In order for nations to change, men must change”, in essence.
The problem for us comes from learning what “the right way” is, and the biggest part of that problem is the fact that our parents are, for the most part, the generation known as the Baby Boomers(BBs). Before I continue, let me explain something here: I am not so much trying to make this blog entry as yet another example of the current generation blaming the one before; rather, I will try to demonstrate that a quick read of history will show that the BBs were largely not a good source to go to when it comes to finding examples of the right ways of doing things – and in some instances, they were quite the opposite – so opposite that you could probably find out the right thing to do by doing the opposite of what they tell you to do.
It is said that our generation is destined to be the first generation that will not be more affluent than the generation before. If that’s the case, then I think a large reason why would be the failure of our BB parents in raising us, for if we are the products of our upbringings then who brought us up? However, I refuse to accept that we are fated for failure. While we had no control over the circumstances of our birth, we are fully in control of how our lives progress from this point on. Given that, if we GenYs do indeed end up less than our BB parents, then we’ll have only ourselves to blame.
In conclusion, don’t let anyone tell you that our generation is doomed to be less than anyone else’s. Our failures will indeed be our own, but so will our successes and I hope that we plan on succeeding in our lives, not failing. There is no reason that we need to live up to a self-fulfilling prophecy just because someone tells us that we are destined to fail. Instead, let’s use those words against our critics as motivation to prove them wrong. If we prove them wrong, then we’ll all benefit. That, actually, should be incentive for these “gloom and doomers” to make sure that we don’t end up less affluent than the BBs, because if we go down, then everyone else is going down with us.
I had intended to make this entry a very long one, but after further consideration, I will instead break this down into parts so that we all have a chance to discuss the other points that I plan to bring up in the coming days. Basically however, my points are going to be roughly based on Churchill’s quotes above. I will stop here to get some input and feedback from the rest of you before I post my next statement, which will probably come sometime next week.
“Never give in, never give in, never; never; never; never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense”
“We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out”
“Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.”
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
“If you are going through hell, keep going.”
“It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.”
– Winston Churchill
********************************************
My favorite subject all through my schooling – from elementary all the way through college – was history, but especially American history and world history. I absolutely love studying the past and finding out how people did things back then and why. By studying the past, we also learn a lot about ourselves and how we have evolved since the times of our ancestors – and especially, how we have not changed since those times. There is a whole lot of wisdom in that old saying, “Those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it.”
Another one of my loves should come as no surprise to regular readers of my blog: I love superhero comic books. The titanic tales of heroism in the face of danger have always captivated and fascinated me. Even though most of the superhero folks have superhuman powers, the best stories about them were about just how human they really were. Plus, certain heroes embodied certain values that I still live by to this day.
For example, Superman embodies that you should use your talents for the greater good. He got this value system from his Midwestern farmer parents. Spiderman’s classic line of “With great power comes great responsibility” came to him the hard way, after he had lost his uncle after failing to stop someone when he could have – and that person ended up being the one who killed his uncle. Captain America believes in the best of everyone he meets, and he believes in the American dream. Those around him can’t help but be bolstered by his infectious optimism.
When I was a little girl struggling with my personal problems related to growing up, I found solace in my history books and my comic books. The tales from history and the comics showed me that I was not the only one who has problems, and that the solutions to our problems often could be found from within. The very best people in history were not those that had the most money or the most power, but those whom had a strong moral center, and who were able to maintain that center despite the most trying of times. Winston Churchill, whose quotes are above, is one such example.
All this is preface for what I’m about to discuss, and that’s in regards to my generation, often referred to as “Generation Y”. In a previous blog entry, I had stated that it could be said that my generation is the worst generation. I’m now about to explain what I meant by that, and I will explain it by paraphrasing one of Churchill’s quotes above: “Generation Y is the worst generation, except for all the rest.” Yes, my fellow GenYs, we have the potential to be the best generation if we want it bad enough.
Mind you, this term is not meant to supplant the generation that lived through the Depression and fought in World War II. That generation will always be the Greatest Generation; it’s virtually impossible to match the accomplishment of a generation that grew up in poverty and with a spotty education, and yet went on to literally save the world by fighting the Axis empires.
What I mean by “Best Generation” is that we GenYs have the potential to accomplish so much that we can transform the world – not by intent, but as a result of the potential for good that we can bring about if we apply our talents in the right way. That is, we will accomplish this not by deliberately trying to change the world in some grand master plan, but instead, it will come about because we work on the individual level. “In order for nations to change, men must change”, in essence.
The problem for us comes from learning what “the right way” is, and the biggest part of that problem is the fact that our parents are, for the most part, the generation known as the Baby Boomers(BBs). Before I continue, let me explain something here: I am not so much trying to make this blog entry as yet another example of the current generation blaming the one before; rather, I will try to demonstrate that a quick read of history will show that the BBs were largely not a good source to go to when it comes to finding examples of the right ways of doing things – and in some instances, they were quite the opposite – so opposite that you could probably find out the right thing to do by doing the opposite of what they tell you to do.
It is said that our generation is destined to be the first generation that will not be more affluent than the generation before. If that’s the case, then I think a large reason why would be the failure of our BB parents in raising us, for if we are the products of our upbringings then who brought us up? However, I refuse to accept that we are fated for failure. While we had no control over the circumstances of our birth, we are fully in control of how our lives progress from this point on. Given that, if we GenYs do indeed end up less than our BB parents, then we’ll have only ourselves to blame.
In conclusion, don’t let anyone tell you that our generation is doomed to be less than anyone else’s. Our failures will indeed be our own, but so will our successes and I hope that we plan on succeeding in our lives, not failing. There is no reason that we need to live up to a self-fulfilling prophecy just because someone tells us that we are destined to fail. Instead, let’s use those words against our critics as motivation to prove them wrong. If we prove them wrong, then we’ll all benefit. That, actually, should be incentive for these “gloom and doomers” to make sure that we don’t end up less affluent than the BBs, because if we go down, then everyone else is going down with us.
I had intended to make this entry a very long one, but after further consideration, I will instead break this down into parts so that we all have a chance to discuss the other points that I plan to bring up in the coming days. Basically however, my points are going to be roughly based on Churchill’s quotes above. I will stop here to get some input and feedback from the rest of you before I post my next statement, which will probably come sometime next week.
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