The Generation to Watch - For What Reason?

       In generational terms, success always seems relative. Donald Kagan, an American historian at Yale University, paints our present generation as a doubting, aimless, bipolar mass of individuals that fail to understand their own isolation. Or, apparently, their own potential.

       According to Kagan, the liberal arts system of today "[fails] to enhance students' understanding of their role as free citizens ... and the responsibilities it entails" (emphasis mine). In our increasingly individualistic society, the continued emphasis on success and ambition crowds out the harmonizing, solid foundation of community.

       Kagan still fears our loss of "a sense of the human experience through the age." This may seem abstract, but the meaning remains quite clear: hidden in the history and literature of the past lies personalized messages of struggle and transformation. Yet if we do not view it as our "responsibility" to grasp these ideals for ourselves, we will indeed drift away into the "rootlessness" of which Kagan spoke.

       A simple example: the distractions of social media. Just the other day, my elder sister mentioned the difficulty of maintaining motivation for higher learning when our minds were filled with scraps of news from Facebook and Twitter.

       "We unintentionally absorb hundreds of pieces of information while scrolling through a page," she said. And that, more than anything, takes up space in our minds.

       Can we comprehend our responsibility to this earth and its history? Perhaps, if we flush out the other bits of fluff. It is difficult to wade through the griping about the laziness of the Millennial generation, but I have found one thing about our generation that surprises me the most: we are most confident that we - as individuals - can personally impact the world.

         Perhaps we do understand our own potential.