Talkin' Bout My Generation

I got to thinking the other day about how, as naive as I'm sure it sounds, the most important thing to me is to do some good in this world. It seems that this sentiment is not echoed by as many of my peers as one might expect--my professors who spent the prime of their youth in the sixties lament that we just aren't as idealistic as they were. I just refuse to believe this. But then, what is it? The media loves to paint us as either decadent and overly absorbed with our own petty problems, total losers, or spoiled rich brats. In my experience though I've encountered many, many individuals who are motivated, intelligent and completely not self-centered. I've heard it said that the apathy among many of us is due to the fact that the problems we are facing--global warming, nuclear issues, a new kind of war and polarization between East and West, daily racism that is almost wearying, an ever-growing and more and more ghastly discrepancy between the rich and the poor not only in our country but worldwide, violence that just seems more raw than it ever did--is due to the fact that these problems are so huge, far-reaching and institutionalized that it is impossible to even know where to begin to solve them. We feel cynicism when we see the efforts of do-gooders fail, or when it turns out that something that should be sacred and pure like religion is continually and routinely corrupted, or when a well-known charity turns out to be misusing funds. All I can say is that as tempting as it is to give up, we've gotta stop whining and start innovating. Think outside the box, find new ways to solve problems, use new ideas and strategies, think globally. Call me an idealistic fool, but remember Ghandi's words: "I submit to you that if a man hasn't found something he will die for, he isn't fit to live." Even if I get nowhere, I will pour my energy and my life's work into at least trying to make a change, a real change. What do I have to lose? What do any of us really have to lose?