Hello. world.
I am part of a generation. I am part of a new movement, a new history, and a group of individuals so big that I will never know all of them. We are Asian, Indian, European, American– We are in our twenties right now, and are in the prime of our lives. Soon, if not presently, we will be taking care of the generation after us, nurturing them as they learn to thrive on their own. Some day, we will be the ones to give them advice and wisdom because we have been through so much life that it’s time to start sharing it.
For now, where are we?
Some of us are new-age hippies, with love as our movement. We thrift instead of shop, we talk instead of speak, we grow instead of cutting, we love instead of fighting, we abstain from mainstream and protest government and want equality for all. We are the incarnation of our parents forty years ago, with their long hair and peace signs in the 70′s.
This, I believe, is the major movement of my generation, and how most of us will remember our youth. Playing acoustic guitar, listening to unsigned bands that don’t understand music theory, conserving water, preaching love and equality, and being educated through public education.
I am part of this generation, that is a choice I cannot avoid, but I am not part of this movement.
I had to the opportunity to forgo public education. I took it. I am free to think and act and feel as I want, I do love people around me and I do listen to Regina Spektor… but I was not educated through government schools. I was taught through a combination of correspondence schools throughout the states, my parents, nonfiction novels, experience, various short-term teachers, and any type of self-directed education I searched for.
I grew up apart from my own generation, only to join it as I started college. Here, I was suddenly introduced to the idea of classes and politics and teachers. Prior to this, it had been textbooks, the president, and mom or myself. I saw fire in eyes as politics were debated, students against teachers, and really long, boring lectures that go over unimportant details. Since this time, I’ve attained huge amounts of knowledge. About 10% of it has been from teachers. The other 90%? Classmates, textbooks, experiences, debates, testimonies, the internet.
One thing though, throughout all of this education, has stuck, and continues to be a thorn in my side: my generation. Forced through schools, hundreds of pupils sharing the same teacher, learning from the same view points. What good does that do? Isn’t learning about learning facts and learning how to form opinions about such facts– independent of anyone else? Isn’t it about what is right. what is proven, and what is true? What is truth, if we choose to ignore it? Why learn at all if this is what we are to be taught? My generation does not take advice from our predecessors, does not search for truth independently, and only stands up for that feels right. Not always what is right.
My generation is about love. Love as a movement, love as a feeling. Dear brothers and sisters, love is not a feeling. Love is a movement: it is decision followed by an action, through pain and suffering, with dedication, sincerity, and sacrifice. My fellow generation, how can we love whole-heartedly if we do not commit ourselves to educating ourselves on the people and world around us? How can we learn to best benefit each other, not with quick fixes to acute problems, but with changes to prevent a more chronic condition? When will we learn that taking people and things at face value is not the loving approach? That operating out of feelings is dangerous behavior?
Dearest, I encourage you, whole-heartedly, to take not my own words or someone else’s, but to find words of your own. To search through words of people from every side: right, left, and in between. To listen to the scientists, the economists, the sociologists, and the researchers. Listen to other generations. Listen to the rich. Listen to the poor. Listen to everyone, but take no one to heart. Figure it out for yourself, but please, know enough to figure it out. Don’t listen to the media, don’t listen to the politicians promising, don’t listen to anyone at face value.
Be part of a generation that loves not only ourselves, but generations to come.
