Post Washington D.C. thoughts

After visiting Washington D.C. I came away with an entirely different perspective and yet more generational differences.  Why do people act the way they do?  Everyone seems to have an opinion.  Just ask a psychologist, they’ll rattle off some bullshit answer using big words trying to explain the functions of the brain.  Sociologists will say its some deep desire that causes these urges or commonalities, either one, to surface.  I think it is something more than that, something that cannot be quantified into words or explanations.  I believe we ourselves do not know exactly what it is we are striving for all the time, we just do it.  It happens so quickly that we do not have time to think, we just react.  Whatever it is, there is a substantial difference between that of my generation and that of the previous generation, specifically those I met in Washington D.C.   My generation, will see a problem, bitch about it, wait for someone else to do something about it, and then bitch about it more.  The generation I met in Washington D.C. are the best of what was a self sufficient generation in that they could function without somebody holding their hands.  It was incredible seeing the best of these people at work. The influence it had on my life was definitely a positive one that I hope to take with me on my life's journey.  

tireless thoughts for sleepless nights

The following is a recollection of a journal entry I made late one night when I couldn't sleep.  The thought process is similar that my generation however this particular thought seems to go overlooked.  Why that is I have no idea, I just know that it is indeed overlooked.  Atoms can be expressed quantitatively, in that they have an atomic mass, orbit, and energy levels.  In short, this building block of matter can be expressed through numbers and formulas.  This poses some interesting prospects.   If the building block of all that exists can be expressed through such simple means (albeit complicated formulas), then what does that say for the rest of existence?  Using these facts it seems as though these formulas should be the basis needed to explain everything in life, thus eliminating the need and purpose of a god.   However, this also creates a flaw in the fact that there are things that cannot be expressed quantitatively.  If all things are made of atoms, then all things should have the properties to be expressed quantitatively, no exceptions.  Therein lays the problem though, as this is not always true.  Exceptions to this law or occurrences commonly known as miracles have happened often throughout history and continue to happen up to this very day.  This creates a problem for the scientific outlook on life.  Exceptions to rule discredit these theories, and through that discredit atheistic beliefs.  How can anyone, scientists and atheists alike come up for a legitimate argument for things that cannot be quantitatively comprehended?  It’s just not plausible for one to think so. It is plausible to think that everything should have an explanation, whether that explanation comes through quantitative analysis or belief in an omniscient deity is strictly up to the eyes of the beholder, however it is my belief that there is line where one crosses over into the other and once there, explanations become concrete.  It is, impossible to quantify say a person who survives a bone crushing fall, or animals doing things that defy there basic instincts.  On a different tangent, energy is quantifiable too as explained by Einstein through E=mc² , where he states the particle level relationship between matter and energy.  If energy is quantifiable as well then this should seemingly cover all loose ends right?  Wrong, there are still miracles that defy this as well.  This thought process should prove the existence of some form of divine intervention, and is set out in the thought process of my generation.  However, for some reason, this has gone unlooked.  

Argumentivness

One thing I have noticed that my generation has become notoriously bad for is arguing a point by saying "thats stupid," and leaving it at that.  The only thing they care about is telling the opponent they are wrong, regardless of whether or not said person is actually wrong.  My generation has turned arguments into opinions and based right and wrong over what each person wants to hear, nothing more and nothing less.  The person who believes said statement is wrong does nothing but tell the opponent that he/she is wrong and stupid.  No matter what the opponent says the person arguing stays with the base "you're stupid" rebuttal and twists the argument into whatever suits them best.  It is indicative of the work ethic of my generation as well as the tolerance and thought process todays students are taking.  The sad thing is, the argumentative process described above is what one will receive if said person makes this type of accusation to my generation.

Self interest vs Global interest

Todays generation has severe problems when it comes to self interest versus global interest.  I made this realization while attending the Naomi Tutu lecture event about prejudice and racism.  Following the conclusion of the lecture a black girl stood up and asked a question about justice.  However, her question about justice turned out to be a badly worded definition of revenge.  Naomi Tutu promptly pointed this out saying that the definition the student gave “sounds a lot like revenge to me.”  However, the student refuses to realize this, and this is my point.  Today’s generation is so extremely close minded and insensitive that we often become blind to the rest of the world.  This makes revenge a bad idea because revenge would only lead to more revenge and would end badly for both sides, and extremely badly for one.  This is what Tutu was getting at in that my generation needs to learn to accept and be understanding of justice even if it requires making sacrifices for the greater good.  This is a huge difference between generations as our parents generation was able to comprehend situations like that and realize a small loss on their side was necessary for the greater good.

Opportunity

As I sit here on the charter bus thundering towards Washington D.C. I think I will document my first positive generational difference.  Opportunity.  Due to technology and communication there are avenues and experiences open to my generation that my father could never have even dreamed about.  For example, in Washington D.C. today I will visit with Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, former attorney general Edwin Meese, two different senators, and then finish up with a dinner at the Russian Embassy commemorating the 50^th anniversary of the Russian Cosmonaut.  That is awesome!  The opportunity to meet all those people and have dinner at the Russian embassy is something my father could only have dreamed of when he was in college.  Not to mention, there are study abroad programs available for us as well.  I will be hopefully be attending Oxford University in the following spring pending my current application.  There may have been study abroad programs back in the 1970’s, but I highly doubt that they were as prominent as the ones that exist today.  It is these opportunities that will hopefully jumpstart the future leaders of our generation and save what I have already deemed a failing hopeless generation.  That is, assuming my generation takes advantage of these opportunities.  (you didn’t really think I was going to be 100% positive about my generation now did ya haha?)

Importance

As I sit here and watch ESPN I am shocked at what has become important in the country today.  As the NFL is in labor talks over their collective bargaining agreement, but the ridiculous thing is that the federal government is feeling the need to intervene with it.  This reminds me of when the government felt the need to help baseball with steroids.  In my mind there are so many more important things for the government to be focusing on than professional sports, especially when the economy is in the shape that is in.  As big a sports fan as I am I think it is a farce that the government is helping with these sports as the situations within the sports are not only laughable but it has to extremely humiliating that the sports cannot figure there problems out themselves.  It really shows that the focus of the future of this nation is on entertainment and not anything of any importance.  As funny as it can be it is actually really sad, and needs to be changed before something drastic does happen.

self interest

I was the Naomi Tutu lecture last monday night and listening to the questions at the end (I hate people who ask questions by the way) I realized something that was really interesting yet not suprising.  One of the questions was a student asking about justice, only they used the definition of revenge to define justice.  I was particularly annoyed by this question due to the ignorance it was based on but it made me realize the mindset the younger generation in this country is based on.  There is a lot less forgive and forget and a lot more eye for an eye.  It is not the best way to go in an age with more destructive weapons available easier to the public.  This led me to thinking of gangs, and these have also become more prominent with the turn of the century.  This is a perfect example of the eye for an eye mentality, and like i said earlier with the new technology that is becoming available this is not the direction the country needs to be headed.

Another College Weekend

Another college weekend.  Another round of parties.  And yet another group of facebook pictures depicting underage drunks with alcohol in hand.  If there is one glaring difference between the current working class generation and their children is common sense and a sense of invincibility.  Despite all the warnings out there that future employers are looking back at facebook for a more in depth look at who they are hiring, college students seem to be ignoring this in totality.  I simply cannot fathom the tradeoff between looking popular (or stupid) from the pictures in return for the possibility of threatening a future job possibility.  Employers like this have an unlimited access to anything on facebook, and, social networks such as facebook keep records of everything that has been posted for up to 10 years even after it has been deleted.  This certainly paints our generation in a bad light, if not a complete farce that will doom the future of this country.  Now my opinion may be a bit strong, but it simply astonishes me that people will risk their future for something incredibly egotistical as popularity.  It speaks to a complete lack of common sense, one that the working class generation would not been insensible enough to undertake.  

Patience

It doesn't take much to look around and notice that a glaring difference between the amount of patience that our parents generation had, and the amount of patience the majority of the younger generation has right now.  It is quite astonishing how low the level is, especially when patience can be a very important trait for a lot of jobs.  Even looking outside of jobs, it is very evident.  One of my longtime high school buddies separated his shoulder twice over the previous summer, and wanted to skip rehab and physical therapy and just take HGH to recover.  Luckily for him, his doctor told him that a natural recovery would be best as there would  no long term side effects.  The point remains though, that our generation is losing patience quickly and is becoming more and more apt to take the quick short term solution instead of the safer one.  I think this can also be attributed to the current recession, as up and coming college graduates tried to take out loans to buy a big house by banking on money they thought they would make.  It is this lack of patience that could end up making an awful impact on the future of the current youthful generation.

Technology

Last week I attended the monthly luncheon for my SCCSML scholarship and we were discussing a book that raised many interesting questions.  One that caught my interest dealt with technology and the role it plays in the up and coming generation, specifically communication.  People do not communicate the way they used to, especially when dealing with face to face interactions.  The younger generation does not know how to interact on a professional level in a face to face environment, and many believe it can be traced to technology.  With cell phones and the internet communication is taking a much more impersonal level and it is affecting the next generation in a negative way.   Another way technology is having a negative impact is through our impatience.  Sega is developing a urinal video game that is controlled by the urine of the participant.  It is sad that our generation has reached such a humiliating level as to have to stoop to urinal video games.

Self Entitlement

Early last week I read an article involving a prospective high school basketball player, his family, and the coach.  The coach had a rule stating hair had to be above the eyebrows and ears in order to play on the team.  The student in question wore shoulder length dreads, refused to cut them, and in turn got kicked off the team.  Because of this, his family was attempting to sue the school before they reached an agreement and withdrew the lawsuit.  However, the fact remains that they had the audacity to think they could sue the school and be the one exception to a rule that had existed for thirty years.  The amount of self-entitlement the upcoming generation of Americans has is incredible.  Never, in any team sport is one individual more important by the team, and that is the purpose of this rule.  By keeping his dreads, this player would have stood out from the rest of the team and drawn more attention to him.  Now yes, there is the argument of individualism, however, as stated above, in a team setting no individual is more important than the team.  Besides, the student has to learn sooner or later that conformity will be necessary.  The only job that would let him keep his dreads would be as an artist of some sort, be it athlete, musician, or artist. Any other job where he would work for a corporation in an office, or for any other company where one has to look decent at best for work, he would be required to cut his hair.  It is required for the clean professional look the office desires, because the image of one can greatly influence the image of the office.  This is another reason the rule is in place.  The coach would not want one player with a loud extravagant hairstyle influencing the image of the rest of the team.  By refusing to respect the coaches authority it gets into something much greater than just a haircut.  By remaining off the team, the player is saying that he cares more for himself as an individual and for his hair then he does for the welfare of the mens basketball team.  Back when my father was in high school, everyone cut there hair for sports as it was an honor to be selected to the team and a small sacrifice such as hair was not even looked at as a sacrifice.  The point is, if this kid is unwilling to cut his hair to play a sport that he has wanted to play, what other decisions and sacrifices necessary to life will this kid make, or not make later on in life?  The prospect is somewhat scary as the future of America rests in the hands of teenagers like this.